Happy New Year, 2017

We are well into 2017 and I have procrastinated with this post because I wasn’t sure what to write. Still not sure.

So here I am, a week after I started this post. I think part of the problem is that January is not really the start of a new year for me. For as long as I can remember, with the exception of a couple of years in research, the real start of a new year has been August. Because if you are in school, have children in school or teach school, we all know that is when the real new year starts. (Apologies to those on alternate school schedules!) August is when you get your eyes checked, go to the dentist, see the doctor, buy new shoes and school supplies (ooh! look protractors and notebook paper are on sale!), get a haircut. And a new year starts.

So for me, January is sort of a halfway checkpoint. This year in particular. I am midway in my first (or is it my only?) Ocracoke year. I have weathered, literally, a tropical storm and a hurricane. I live alone, for the first time in nearly 35 years, in my little wooden house. I am teaching in a wonderful but different kind of school, where everyone knows everyone, and living in a town where the same is true. (Even Santa Claus at the Variety Store knew that I was the new math teacher!)

dolphin1 This is a year of discovery for me. A year of quiet and solitude. A year of meeting new people, new things head on. A year of unknowns. New experiences. Ferries. Six hour trips to the grocery store.Gulls and pelicans. Sand always between my toes.