I deeply miss teaching school.

For years, I showed up every morning to The Little Middle School, just like a real job with a boss. In effect, I had hired myself to work directly with the students, instructing them in math and science and writing and history and laughing at their hijinks. It was challenging, rewarding, frustrating, interesting, and fun.

I didn’t quit because I didn’t love it. I quit because I had other things I wanted to do. Now, I’m a thousand miles away while school goes on without me. I have had to let go, and that’s been challenging and rewarding, too.

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You may have heard that a University of Georgia professor resigned on the spot when one of his students refused to wear a mask properly.

The professor, Irwin Bernstein, was a “retiree-rehire,” who had officially retired in 2011 but has been teaching on a part-time basis.

I can’t blame him for deciding, at 88 years old, that life is too short to argue with an undergraduate about masks. And I certainly can’t blame him for attempting to enforce a mask mandate in his classroom due to the ongoing threat of death.

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Rural Maine, like a lot of rural places, has a lot of two-lane highways.

Most of these winding roads have a double yellow line down the middle. But on some stretches, you’ll see the dotted line that tells you you’re allowed to pass the car in front of you if there is no one coming. That way, those who want to go faster can do so.

There’s a tension between maintaining the speed of the person in front of you versus bumping out and around them. When you pass, you’re taking a risk. What if you can’t make it back to your lane in time?

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With a couple of major projects wrapped up, others delegated, and others dropped, I have found myself in a slow season.

First, I took a vacation. When I went to set the autoresponder on my email, I learned that I hadn’t done so since the summer of 2018. Yikes! Even if I didn’t go anywhere, this complete holiday from my laptop was necessary.

I further decided that, upon my return from my vacation, I would strip away everything from my to-do list that wasn’t essential.

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I believe that the pandemic has made me a more resilient person.

I’m able to handle certain stressors, like long-haul travel and government paperwork, with a new equanimity. Even my household chores are more doable than they used to be.

But this resilience depends upon rest. If I’m going to push past the bounds of what is comfortable, I also need to have time in which I’m able to retreat and relax, gearing up for the next challenge.

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