Summer is FINALLY over

This will seem silly to most people, but summer is my least favorite season.  I find it hot, humid, crawling with tourists no matter where you go, and it makes me feel lethargic.  Fall is prettier.  I like winter activities more.  Spring has better kayaking.  To add to all this, summer is the most difficult time of year in my job.  Kids have more free time, hotter tempers, and even less motivation than during the rest of the year (which means I have to work harder for less of their effort).

Not that summer is all bad.  Actually, I had a pretty good summer.  I took 3 weeks off work, 1 of which I spent in Montana.  That was great.  I went to a good high school friend's wedding, I visited one of my best friends, I took a trip to Missoula, and I went camping in Glacier.  Plus, summer in Montana isn't hot.  The temperature still comes down to the 50s at night, but it's light out from 5 AM to 11 PM.  Yeah, Montana was definitely worth the while.

My other 2 weeks I had off were spent at Lasallian Volunteer orientation in Romeoville, IL (at Lewis University).  I won't go into all the details, just suffice to say that it was a solid gathering of volunteers and was filled with seminars on all sorts of good topics; plus some epic sand volleyball matches at night. 

Post-orientation, 5 of us also took a few days to volunteer at a middle school just opening up in North Philadelphia.  Saint James School is being reopened as a San Miguel Nativity school, and it was an honor to be a part of this new cornerstone in the underserved neighborhood.  To give you just a brief glimpse into what this school (and all the San Miguel Nativity schools) does, think about the fact that St. James has an income limit.  Families that make MORE than a certain amount can't send their kids.  With no hesitation, this place can lay claim to one of the many mottoes uttered in our Lasallian circle, "the least, the last, and the lost."

That was the core of my summer, bookended by work and work.  Although kids at LaSalle do have summer school, I was gone for most of the summer session.  That means that most of the time I was working was holiday time.  Activities start at 12:30, run to dinner, and continue after dinner until 8:30.  Playing games with kids all day long might not seem like such a burden, but believe me, it can be.  Somewhere between 4 and 8 hours spent swimming in the humidity, suffering the blazing hot sun.  It amazes me that kids came out for activities at all considering the weather, but when I think of the alternative of sitting in their rooms or playing ping-pong, I guess it makes sense.  So, I played a LOT of football, basketball, and softball.  I played a little frisbee, some soccer, some capture the flag, plenty of dodgeball.  I broke up a couple fights.  I provided plenty of emotional support and emotional first aid, plus some physical first aid here and there.  I took kids on a couple hikes, did a camping trip or two, spent some time with them rock climbing and caving, and tried to keep myself and them fairly well entertained all summer long.  It was tough work, but we made it through, and now a new school year has begun.

We're off to a fine start with fall sports, playing flag football 2 days a week, ultimate frisbee 1, and indoor soccer 1.  Indoor soccer was the first event, and tonight was like what might happen if a swarm of bees were to descend upon a crowded petting zoo.  Kids screaming, pushing, cursing, hitting, and kicking each other, all in the name of the game.  Most nights, most activities are not like this.  I could tell from the moment kids walked in the door tonight that it was going to be a difficult one.  Some staff shenanigans didn't help matters, and I was glad to see everybody leave in the same condition as when they came in.  C'est la vie.

I went kayaking this last weekend.  I ran the Dryway section of the Deerfield in western Massachusetts on Saturday, and surfed a pretty pushy wave on the Housatonic near the town of South Kent in Connecticut on Sunday.  It was a pretty good couple days, definitely pushing the level of my paddling.

I don't feel like I've improved all that much since I've been in New York, but I can at least happily say that I haven't backslid.  Like anything, too much time out of the water definitely dulls one's ability to perform, and so even though my paddling hasn't pushed my limits much since I came here, it has at least been consistent enough to make me feel like I'm at least staying or improving slightly.

I don't like life update blogs because I'm never sure what exactly to say or how to say it.  I doubt if anything I just wrote was really very interesting to anyone, but I don't know really what people are expecting to read.  I'm also ending it rather abruptly.  Sorry.

As always, if you have any comments, suggestions for topics, or thoughts for the good of the order, please feel free to post them here or send me an email.  I hope I get to hear from you soon.

Alex