Gallatin Canyon, Montana

How many other professions besides teaching give their employees two and a half months to recharge so that they are physically, emotionally and mentally ready to be present and give their all once the next season comes along? I don’t know of many and am so thankful to be part of the one that does.

After months of coordinating with friends, on July 13th I embarked on a western tour of the United States (pictures!), visiting California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming along the way. Out of 26 nights, I stayed in a hotel by myself twice. Friends, all from different parts of my past and present, were generous enough to host my visit or, in the case of the dude ranch reunion, share a cabin on the river with me.

It was a trip that gave me many things: reunions with friends from all walks of life; driving time to think about my life’s trajectory, how much I love my family, why I love to travel, who I am; time alone on the road to sing Sugarland’s new song as loudly as possible on the open roads that are so beautiful out west; opportunities to try fun new things like surfing and seeing Hollywood; and lots of time to enjoy old fun things like hiking and camping.

I’ve been home for a week now, planning a trip to Egypt next summer, and have a hard time imagining my life without the space in my life to take these journeys. I think one of these reasons I love being in Boston so much is that it’s incredibly easy to be anywhere else relatively quickly. We’re pretty central to some amazing destinations.

Not that Boston isn’t one of the destinations in my life. It is, in fact, the destination of my life. It is home and where I have the chance to put into practice my passion for introducing children to literature and teaching them information seeking skills.

This coming year brings new challenges: I have left a suburban middle school library for a place in urban K-8 education, just blocks from my house. The job is going to require me to teach 28-or-so Library classes per week which will be quite different from the librarian life I’ve been leading for the past four years. I’m welcoming the challenge with open arms. Bring on the picture books!

Here’s to a great end to the summer and a wonderful start to the teaching year!

via The Insider

Boston.com published an article, Rising to meet an infinite need, about the Boston-based Partners in Health that conveys nicely what they have done for years to help build health care services in Haiti and what they’re doing now in the wake of the earthquake. If you’re wondering which organization of the many you should donate to help recovery efforts, I strongly suggest Partners in Health. Your money will go directly to saving peoples’ lives.