Silver lining

So, my summer was fantastic and horrible at the same time. It was fantastic because of all the external things I did. I saw Europe, I spent some of the best quality time with my wife... ever.... I spent three weeks in my favorite music community, making some great pieces come to life.

And at the same time it was horrible because of what I did internally. I worried. I obsessed. I had Palpatine on the backburner of my psyche every waking minute of every day. I know that's not healthy... and I tired not to. I'm surprised that there wasn't more alcohol involved.

So, nevertheless, I haven't been all that enthusiastic about getting ready for school
. In fact I blew off so much prep work, I neglected to set up a retreat for the leadership team. Hell, I didn't even select the members of the leadership team. Every time I had time to work on that stuff, something in the back of my head came running out and screamed "NO! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! GO BACK HOME, HANG OUT ON THE INTERNET AND PLAY VIDEO GAMES!"

So here we are at the end of summer, and I can't put it off any more. On monday of this week I e-mailed the kids who had submitted applications for the leadership council, and I basically told the... the truth. I told them I didn't know what to do about the council. I told them retreat wasn't going to happen (which, by now, I'm sure most of them figured out anyway.) I told them we needed to meet at the school and get started. I was expecting that maybe two people out of eight would show.

The enext day, all eight kids showed up. We had a short meeting, after which they grabbed brooms and equipment lists, and proceeded to put the room back in order. They cleaned out the lockers, they took inventory on the instruments, they even reorganized the drawers in my desk. It was the most productive that the council has ever been, and it made me feel all fuzzy inside.

And since then... as I've had time to walk around the school a little, I found out that there was a part of me that was eager to come back... that wanted to be hopeful. Of course, I didn't run into Palpatine at all this week, but I don't think it would have mattered.