SUMMER HOLIDAYS 😊💕

‘We’re all going on a summer holiday
No more working for a week or two,
Fun and laughter on a summer holiday
No more worries for me and you
For a week or two.’🎶

The lyrics of this popular song by Cliff Richard, seem to encapsulate my feelings exactly, as another academic year is almost at its end. In a month from now, I’ll be absolutely free. Free to do as I please, for a little over 30 days. Free to while away the hours. I will have lots of time to myself, which is a 'rare commodity', right through the year. 

For an entire month, my vocal chords will also get a well-deserved break. My ears will experience an amazing sense of calm, that seems to evade it, all year round. My mind will not be working at the speed of lightning; and multi-tasking (an art, which I have mastered), can very happily take a back-seat.😊

After having read what I’ve just put down, it would be pretty obvious, that I’m really looking forward, to the month of May and the long-awaited vacations, that are a part and parcel of the life of every teacher. I really won’t deny that I am.

After the stress and strain of the entire academic year gone by, it is definitely a well deserved and well-earned break; and almost every teacher I know, looks forward to the month of May, simply because it’s the only time in the entire year, when we are actually completely free. No doubt we get a lot of holidays at other times during the year; but those holidays, always come with a full itinerary of corrections, lesson planning, other things to plan out, or some activity to prepare for.🤪

As opposed to that, these 30 days are completely 'sacrosanct'. They are devoid of any school related work. They are precious moments; and we get a chance to savour literally every second of them, to our heart’s content. I know that these holidays are something, that all my friends envy me for; because no other profession, can boast of a month-long break every year, which you actually get paid for.

However, to those who think this is totally unreal and unfair, I would say; step into my shoes any day, and at the end of the academic year, I doubt there would be anyone, who would feel the 'BREAK', is undeserved.

Of course, everyone I know, looks forward to holidays. We use it for a wide variety of reasons. To chill out and relax, to maybe catch up on our reading, to do the things we’ve always been meaning to squeeze into our busy schedules, but never got down to doing, to recuperate from the stress of the routine, that often ties us down, to rejuvenate ourselves so that we can re-charge those tired minds and limbs, that have been anxiously looking forward to a well deserved period of rest and relaxation, to catch up with family and friends, to make up for lost time; and mainly, it gives us time to 'just be ourselves'.😊

One of the only pitfalls of the summer holidays for me personally though, is that it takes me away from my boys, for a really long period of time; and while it is often said, that absence makes the heart grow fonder, in my case, being apart from them, only increases the sense of loss and longing for the re-opening day, when I will be able to meet them all again.

Life truly has an uncanny way of bringing us full circle, back to the very place where we began our journey. At the end of a long year, we can’t wait for the holidays to begin; and as the holidays progress, we look forward to the light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of a new year and a new beginning. That’s the circle of life, I guess - one that has no end. ✍️