Mountains and beaches

I left for my past home along the beach in a fog of concern: too many boxes still to unpack, the aftermath of Christmas, and fretting over my impending session of school.

Days spent visiting with dear friends, walking on the rain soaked beach, and listening to the coastal winds provided enough of a pleasant distraction for my brain to rally itself for my coming tasks.

I begin another quarter of school today and I especially look forward to two of my courses: photojournalism and the study of Shakespeare. As much as I look forward to my desired educational outcome from these courses----and others---- I often begin a new quarter wearing worry like a new bathrobe; looking through those syllabuses with their daunting assignments laid out before me makes me feel as if I'm looking up at a much too large and looming mountain from its sad little base. Yet I know this routine. I've climbed that mountain of assignments before and felt accomplishment wash over me as a result. And so today, I take another first step up another mountain.