My sabbatical winds down this weekend. Next week finds me in the office, prepping for classes and settling in to the CCEL job. I’m cherishing these last couple mornings wherein I read whatever I want–newspaper, magazine, Twitter feed, Facebook posts–and write a bit before the kids get up. An incredibly restorative and productive time. My take:

• 2 essays accepted for publication in Role Reboot (“Addicted”) and Palaver (“Divorce Education”)
• 2 essays submitted (“Fanning the Flame” and “Unraveling: Six Months”)
• 1 article submitted (“Knitting into the 21st Century”)
• 2 short pieces sent to Al-Anon
• 1 presentation proposal accepted (PCA/ACA in New Orleans)
• 1 paper proposal accepted (MJSCL article with Leah)

At home, I had the upstairs bathrooms re-done and am on the verge of maxing out my HELOC. Ah well, it’s worth it.

I think I’ll miss the time with Jen the most. We’d text each other the night before meeting, “Grounds at 9:30?” “Yes!” Our last meet there coincided with the Ogden High choral group’s caroling through downtown. They threw in weird Chanukah song. It was not the most productive of days. At Ville Bella, we’d watch “The Price is Right” or play Trivia Crack between working on whatever writing project we had going on.

And just as I write this, she asks if we can squeeze in one more…Tuesday morning at Grounds 🙂