The miserable countdown has begun.

A distinguished (now retired) colleague of mine once explained that the portion of the school year between Spring Break and the end of the year could be described as "a freight train to Hell." I kind of feel the same way about the end of summer.


It seems as though Fourth of July marks the turning point for those of us here in Georgia. It's there to warn us that we will be back at school in one short month, and the days just seem to roll by at an uncontrollable pace from that point.


There's nothing you can do but watch in horror as your calendar gets closer and closer to THE dreaded day.


Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I can't imagine doing anything else, but there is nothing like weeks of hot sun, poolside reading, and hours of leisure time. It really is a shock to the system to go back on a schedule of any kind.


This is probably why it has been so difficult for me to start reading school books. I need to review some texts to teach British Lit and there has been a new summer reading book added for one of my courses, so I have needed to get on that as well. This past Tuesday seemed like the perfect day to do so. It was rainy outside, and I had spent my day grocery shopping and cleaning up a little around the house.

I made myself a pot of Earl Gray and sat down to read a bit as I could hear the rain falling. Both of my dogs were sleeping soundly at my feet and all was well. A while later, the dryer buzzed, and I walked upstairs to fold a load of laundry. When I returned maybe 5 minutes later, this is what I found:









Can somebody please explain how this.....



.....can do this?

I read so slowly when I read for school becuase I am making notes and "digesting" the material in order to teach it. Notes. On. Every. Page.

Gone.

[For the record, it was Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and I have another one on the way. Despite my frustraition with that little mishap, I'm excited to teach this one, and I love that it relates so well to the age group I am teaching.]

I guess next time I should leave my book on the counter or something. Apparently the coffee table if not safe from the wild destruction that is my dog.