This time of year always leaves me pining away for Wingate; I think it’s the combo of the kids going back to school, the “shadows changing” as Joey said to me earlier this week (the earth shifting and days starting to get shorter again), and the weather cooling off a bit, but somehow, I’m always drawn back to those days when sometimes I feel I was at my best. College was the first time that I honestly looked forward to the beginning of each semester. I loved going to buy my books, seeing what novels I would be reading, what different aspect of the Spanish language I would be learning, all of the crisp, fresh (usually used) books. I miss that so much.

I learned so much at Wingate; I honestly feel that I learned from the best, from Dr. Thomas (my English professor who is most near and dear to my heart as I worked as her student assistant for 3 1/2 years) to Dr. Christopher, who made me love Southern Literature, to Dr. Little-Sweat, who helped me write creatively, to Dr. Schuhl who taught me so much about Latin American Literature and Culture, and Dr. Rivera, with whom I worked for an entire summer and got to know very well. I miss them all so much; sometimes it’s almost too painful to remember my days at Wingate.

I’m a little sad, because I know that, should I be accepted into ECU, I won’t get that same relationship with my professors again. I’ll have to do my coursework online, which is infinitely more convenient for me because of my current position (and online is better than not progressing at all), but I won’t get that added component of really getting to know the people I’m working with and trying to build a reputation for myself. It will be infinitely harder to build a good reputation from a few hundred miles away. But still, I’m hopeful and excited at the prospect of getting to rejoin the academic community.

I was thinking today about things that I want to do throughout the rest of the year. Here are some of my goals:

• read another book this month
• read 3 books in September
• read 4 books in October
• learn to knit socks!
• start planning our future edible landscape (for sustainability!)
• cook from scratch more
• be active to become more self-confident
• do well in Wendee’s writing class

I’m sure there were some others, but I really can’t remember.