Perchance to Dream

Summers come and go, and they mark the rhythms of our lives.  Turning the corner you could say, or the page, toward the rest of the year, to the rest of our lives; summer its own kind of space.  Where we go, who we are, who we will become; they trot out in parade fashion as the world rotates around an axis of summer as eternal transitional space.  Here, at least, in what we call the west thanks to how we chose, long ago, to be oriented.

It has been a full summer.  It has been a short summer.  And too, it has been a long summer.
August is a summer month if there is a summer month, but somehow, it is always the beginning of the end of summer.  I had a conversation with my supervisor today about how he is beginning to mentally turn the corner back toward campus ministry, and that's exactly what I've felt like I've needed to do because my mind and heart just aren't where I know they need to be for me to get back into the swing of Hillsdale life and work.  But, perhaps a little, I'm starting to turn the corner too.  But part of me never wants summer to end.  Even with more normal jobs, there's a sort of mystique about summer and I'm not sure I ever want to lose it.  (That's not to say I have an, in any way, normal job).

But there is so much to look forward to with the fall as well.

It will cool down.
Football will return (and eventually basketball too).
Order will come back as school picks up.
Ministry will begin again (and we'll see more tangible ways of God working in students that I've been missing all summer long)
Life will once more feel like it's moving.

I love fall because I love beginnings and endings.  Summer is a three month space of liminality and transition.  While I love it, I am looking forward to what comes next.  For whatever reason, it never quite feels like "what comes next" ever comes in the summer.

I often hear talk about "summer reading" but I'm so organized in my reading that I've been pretty horrible at doing it regularly without my more regular schedule.
What I've finished this summer:


How to Give Away your Faith
Undiscovered Country
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Hobbit
Snow Crash
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The Small Group Leaders Handbook
The Art of Loving
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
A Little Princess

That might seem like a lot...but it's only 1/3rd of my total reading for the year so far (and much less if you count pages)...that's about right as schedules go, but it doesn't quite fit the "more time to read in the summer" mantra.

Anyway, I recommend basically all of those books, especially Undiscovered Country, which is by Lin Enger.

I never really ask for comments, but I would love to hear what you've been reading this summer, if you feel like contributing.

My favorite movie from the summer is Toy Story 3...it's actually more a coincidence than intentional that it actually came out this summer.  I haven't seen much in theaters lately and would pick a DVD I've seen if any of them outshined Toy Story 3.

But none have, not quite.  It's pretty great.

Like life, I hope this gets more regular come fall.  But summer 2010, you will be missed.

-Zack

"When you run make sure you run to something, not away from"
-The Avetts