It is always fun to have a "Labor Day" that really seems to celebrate the end of vacation for so many. Now the schools usually start at least a week before Labor Day, but when I was growing up school began the day after Labor Day so we would have the last day at the lake to swim and picnic or just enjoy doing something together as a family. My mother always made us feel that going back to school was something very exciting and I looked forward to seeing all my friends, learning new things, and being in a different grade. I hope all the students who are back to school now have the same sense of anticipation about what the new academic year will bring. It is the first year that I really feel I am not returning to school, although I will still be at the University on Thursdays.
I am using "A Book of the Hours" that is made up of the writings of Thomas Merton and was edited and published in 2007. I had it on my shelf and must confess that I have just started using it because it was suggested by my retreat director. Merton has some lovely things to say, especially about silence so I hope to quote him here sometime this week.
Since this is the end of vacation, I need to finish up telling you about mine. A college friend (known and admired even before college) drove me from Davis to her home in Novato where we spent hours just talking and eating outside or at the nearby country club. She then drove me to Oakwood where I visited with all my friends in our retirement home, made my eight-day of retreat and then had three nights at Villa Maria del Mar in Santa Cruz before returning to one of our communities in Redwood City. It was a very restful and cool August. Still, I was glad to get home again and I am also happy to be back in contact with my readers.
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