Hiatus
All my oldest would say was “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”
Hiatus
About a decade ago, the idea of college professors going on “sabbatical” seemed weird, even unnecessary to me.
From what I gather, sabbaticals are typically a year or so of paid time for professors and the like, approximately every 7 years or so, to travel, study, unpack the last chunk of time and prepare for what lies ahead.
Now it seems like a dream to have that kind of time available for that purpose.
The past 6 years of professional life have been as intense, storied, and thrilling as they have been a grind along the way. Some phases are unpleasant. Others remind me why I decided as a teenager that this vocation would be my path, at least for the foreseeable future. Sometimes I bleed red and white along with the blue. Yet others, it gets pretty damn heavy.
I’ve been basking in my own short hiatus with my wife and kids. I can’t get the time back that I’ve lost with them, but I can certainly squeeze the drops out of the time we’re together now, and I can set things in motion to enhance my family life for years to come, especially while the euphoria of homecoming is fresh and the pain of being an ocean apart isn’t too far in the rearview mirror.
Truth be told, the travels of most modern professionals pale in comparison to those of Homer’s Odysseus. The discomforts we face today are nothing when compared to those of yesteryear -- just look at the better part of the world as recently as the 1930s and ‘40s. Modern technology lets us Facetime friends and family from virtually anywhere. In a day or two we can travel thousands of miles and be home again.
Nothing replaces watching your children run around with the neighbors’ kids, getting them ready for bed, and watching them pass out from childhood exhaustion. Nothing replaces sitting next to your wife with a cup of tea or a glass of bourbon and reading a few chapters before your own exhaustion kicks in. Nothing replaces going to Church with your community. Nothing will replace living in 21st Century America, with all the blessings, freedoms, and prosperity that are right here at our fingertips.
It’s great to be home in my own Bedford Falls.
-MJVW