It’s a weird time for me: did my summer vacation end the day I went in for surgery or does it end tomorrow?

You should know: summer is my favorite. Not because of the heat, but because school is out, and my schedule is more flexible because my students have more flexible schedules. I also work less, which I really prefer not to do year round, and Louie is more flexible, and we get to travel and have adventures and also do nothing. It’s so wonderful.

And then it ends, and fall comes and everything gets busier and the students have soccer and musicals and we all get stressed.

But, let’s look back on the fun. It was a wonderful summer. We spent 2 1/2 weeks in Norway. We went to Austin for a few days. We visited my family in New York State for a few days. We had some lovely meals, wine dinners, dinner with friends, dinner out, dinner cooked at home. We had a Fireworks BBQ with friends. I read a lot of books. We watched some good tv shows. We slept in, we relaxed, we did some yard work (admittedly, I didn’t do much), we got rid of more stuff and gave it away to other people.

Work wise: I played a lot of concerts and an opera. I taught a bunch of students, some new just for the summer which was fun too. I didn’t play too many weddings, though I did play one on viola. I wrote quite a few sheet music reviews and some just came out in the journal.

And then my surgery, but it went well, I’m getting better (pain level 0-2). I’ll have a checkup this week to see how things are going. I would have preferred not ending the summer that way, but that’s how it worked out. At least I didn’t miss much work as I was planning a break from teaching anyway.

I have some cool stuff coming up in the fall: several fun chamber music concerts, some bigger ensemble concerts (orchestra, small orchestra), a show at the Fox (Ain’t Too Proud), playing for some visiting artists (The Who), and more. I’ll likely have a few new students at Wash U along with some awesome returning ones, as well as a couple new ones at home. I’ll have all new students in my before school job, and I still have two weeks before that starts. I may also take an improvisation course to continue building those skills, and I think I’ll be teaching two Creative Ability Development Classes each week. Yes, it’ll be a lot, but I should still have some time most days to do other things that I enjoy doing.

Non work-wise: we have tickets for some symphony concerts, a paddle trip on the Mississippi, a likely trip over Thanksgiving just the two of us, visiting my family over Christmas, some random weekend trips, definitely some hiking when I am ready (which will ideally coincide with the cooler weather), and some fun with friends.

And hopefully fall will go well, and not be too stressful. Ha! I will try to focus on the positive rather than the negative and remind myself that each gig I took was for a reason 🙂