An ounce of dark chocolate. Steven Curtis Chapman playing from my computer speakers. Ahh. I am ready to work. But first, I take a nibble from one corner of my chocolate chunk and begin my Internet rounds. PHC student website, PHC webmail, my own blog to check comments, and then about seven other people's blogs, on which I post comments of my own. Hmm, people are up to interesting things. I debate whether I should write my new blog post, but decide I will save it for later. Work.

I grimace as I stare at the familiar pages of Big Book of Home Learning Volume 2, Preschool and Elementary in my lap. We are updating this extensive book yet again. I know almost every one of its 500 pages, because I have gone back and forth through them over and over again since I was fifteen years old. I skim through the current chapter I'm editing on the computer screen in front of me and see a review for "Trudy Palmer's Gift of Reading Program." My mind instantly flashes to her answering machine. I know how it sounds: "Trewdy Pahlmer's Gift of Reading!" I shake my head and move on.
"Sing, Spell, Read, and Write" - oh yes, they were bought by Pearson Learning. Hmm. Pearson Learning is swallowing everyone up. What is happening to all those old little family companies, anyway?
"Ball Stick Bird" - at least some companies never change. I grin as I remember the bold line drawings of Happy Cat Dick and the Vooroos of Venus.

Before I know it, it is 5pm, and I put my work away and lean back. I have Tae Kwon Do at 7pm, and I have to remember, I owe Mr. Moore $70 for the month. But until then, what should I do? I could go swim - but then I would have to dry off for class, and I'd have chlorine in my skin when I'm sweating. Not pleasant. I could write some more Erthe. Hmm. But then I recall my large stack of library books that is due back in two days. I've read only the three books of plays, and I've hardly touched the rest. They're all on intellectual topics, things I know I ought to read. For a second I feel guilty. Then I reason, I'll just renew them. It's all good.

I could respond to email. I have about ten emails I ought to write. My stomach begins to turn over at the thought. It's too much. Nervous energy propels me to my feet, and I grab laundry and toss it into the washing machine. By now it's 5:30pm. Only an hour until I ought to leave for TKD. I leave the email and the library books upstairs and escape to my "cave," my refuge in the corner of our messy basement. It has a cushy chair with an ottoman, my bookcases, and a lamp. Here I grab my Bible and read for an hour. I feel much better when I am done, because I know that was an hour profitably spent.

TKD - I love it! Wind sprints, hapkido techniques, and sparring tonight. I blink and the hour is gone. We say our sweaty, happy goodbyes, and I'm home again by 8:30pm. Now I can face my duties. I write some emails and read 50 pages of one of my useful books.

Wow. It's 10pm already. I watch an episode of Smallville with my little sisters, pray for half an hour or so in my cave, and go to bed.

Rinse, recycle, and repeat. Where is my summer going? Today is my little sister's 17th birthday, which means it is July 13th. In only a few days more than a month, we'll all be back at PHC. For many of us, it is our senior year. In only ten months, I will watch my classmates graduate. I will smile and hug, and then I will cry...

But I'm not thinking about that yet. First things first. I have a month of summer to live. :)  ¶ 10:11 AM