It's the end of the semester!

It is that time of the year again. The sprint to the end of the semester. It looks and feels differently for each of us. You can see it by the number of students finding their way to the library and the reams of paper flying through the computer lab printers. It’s obvious in the faces of students huddled around tables trying to figure out how to complete a 6-week project in 6 hours. For instructors, it is the realization that the deep meaningful classroom conversations at the beginning of the semester have caused them to now be weeks behind. This produces the words we all love to hear, “We have a lot of material to make up in the next 2 weeks.” We all handle the pressure differently and we all figure out how to get it all done.

Some students forgo sleep to make up the gap. Others give up social interactions and for some the ultimate sacrifice…personal health and hygiene. I kind of do all three but thankfully, I have a household of loving family members that can point out all these pressure-induced deficiencies before they get out of hand.

For me, sleep deprivation shows up in a very distinct way. It sounds weird, but all household appliances become verbally interchangeable. Yesterday, my middle son, who already thinks I’m unstable, asked, “Mom, where is my baseball uniform?” “In the dishwasher,” I replied. “Why did you put in there?” “Because that is where you put clothes when they come out of the microwave. Now get your waffle out of the dryer, rinse your plate, and put it in the toaster when you’re finished.” The other kids just stood there, shaking their heads, but wisely, remained silent.

I haven’t talked to my “mom” friends in weeks. They only visit in my dreams and even then they only talk “algebra–ese”. It’s starting to get to me. A dream of a beautiful garden luncheon rapidly deteriorates when a long time friend asks me, “if Joe has 300 feet of fencing what is the maximum area he can surround.” People keep leaving me messages on phone saying, “Hey, this is the third message…are you still alive?” (Barely) “How is school going?” (Don’t know yet) and my personal favorite, “When can we get together?” (June).

Each semester I say that I am going to do better and I really start out pretty strong. I keep in touch, eat a nutritious food, wear matching clothes, comb my hair. By the end of the semester, I’m calling Juicy Fruit gum and a cup of coffee “breakfast”. I wear hats and am satisfied to dress in clothes that haven’t been on the floor too many days. It’s really awful. I often wonder about the students who started the semester in this state. You know the ones that slept through the first class? Where are they now? Maybe theywere smart to save their strength for the end.

I wake up each morning now, counting the day left; a victim of my own procrastination and over-scheduling. Well, not much anyone can do about it at this point except suck it up and plow ahead. Type one thing and move on to the next. I just hope the refrigerator doesn’t crash and the iron doesn’t run out of ink.