Behind Infinity

“You’re thinking too much. Just stop thinking.”

Over the past three years this has become Dr. A’s standard answer for me, oft-repeated with regards to both Latin and Life (sometimes the two seem to merge until they’re one and the same).

Late this afternoon I barged into his office, bordering on full freakout mode. Perhaps it was prompted by the grey weather we’ve been having (it never did actually get light today), or maybe it was the result of my recent brush with death, or it could have been the fact that I’m graduating in four–no, now it’s closer to three months. “I need you to remind me why I’m here,” I said. “Because I’m all of a sudden wondering if I’ve made a mistake, spending four years of my life studying Latin.”

First, he laughed at me and told me to stop thinking because I do it too much. I rolled my eyes. And then we had a good talk.

“You knew it was the right thing for you to do. That’s why you became a Classics major. You chose it because you knew you would learn things you wouldn’t have learned otherwise. Right? I’ve seen you learn things about yourself, and about life. You’ve learned valuable skills, if pressed, I could list them. You have developed excellent communication skills, critical thinking skills, a work ethic you wouldn’t have gotten if you majored in something else. I could go on. I shouldn’t have to.

“You chose it because you wanted to live well. That’s all part of it. Education for life, not for a career. And you’ll graduate soon, and you’ll continue to live well, with whatever you can do. Living well and making money are entirely different things, remember. You can live well whether you’re studying in grad school or teaching Latin or translating or working retail or tacking horses…or, well, whatever it is you do with them…boarding maybe. I don’t know. You’ll figure it out.

“Stop thinking. B.A. in Classics is a perfectly respectable degree which you should be proud of. You’re going to be all right. Okay?”

He’s right of course, and that’s why I went whining to his desk, because I knew he’d set me straight. All that stuff was very well and good when I was an idealistic sophomore and graduation was still many years away…now that it’s staring me down, I still know it’s true and believe it but I do need reassurance. It’s easier to forget my lofty principles when it’s time for real life to happen and critical thinking skills or no, I’m still feeling ill-equipped for the task.

This little encounter is only one instance out of countless others where it’s evident how very fortunate I’ve been to work and learn in a very student-centric department where my professors know me personally and are willing to drop anything pretty much whenever I need help, whether it’s course-related or not. Such rockstar treatment is something that I’m really going to miss when I’m gone from Grand Valley.

^Eyelashes

^Brothers

^This particular brother GOT HIS GVSU ACCEPTANCE LETTER TODAY!!! w00t! Another Hunter headed to the valley…

^This was the magical view out my window a few mornings ago. I don’t think the picture really does it justice.

Jezebelle and I at a Dressage lesson recently.

^Pretty Star

^Silly Star

^Snow on a grey pony

Wednesdays, this semester, are like Saturdays, except better. I have no classes or other commitments all day, except for the occasional riding lesson with my Dressage instructor Kim at Rockford Equestrian Center. Because of this, Wednesdays end up being such a productive, lovely day.

Every Wednesday begins when I take my sister to her 8:30 AM orchestra rehearsal at the Homeschool Building. While she and her friends fiddle away, I go to my favorite Starbucks over at Metro Health Village, and leisurely sip coffee and eat crumpets as I catch up on my e-mails and begin doing homework. I have achieved the status of a “regular”–today the cutie behind the counter had my tall Peppermint White Mocha going before I could even say the words. How special is that? There are a few other Weds. morning regulars, too. Kitty-corner from me sits Business Guy, perusing his planner and the NY times as he psychs himself up for the day. In the corner are Old Lady and her friend The Guy with the Cards. TGwtC always has a deck of cards, which he shuffles continuously. He and Old Lady often sit in silence. It’s peculiar. And finally there’s Horn Rimmed Book Dude, who wears horn-rimmed glasses and reads a book.
It’s a cozy little routine. I like it.

I generally stop at the bank on the way home, and then spend the rest of my morning catching up on barn chores and horse stuff. This morning I had a very long “Come to Jesus talk” with Mr. Max, during which it was my goal to put the fear of God and Man back into his smarmy little head. It’s really not a hard thing to do, as he’s a sweetie at heart, but he does need reminding every once and again. Give an inch, he takes a mile. It’s important to get this stuff learned when we’re young and only weigh 700 lbs.

When I get so cold that I can’t feel my toes, it’s time to go inside and do some “office work”–prepare curriculum for tomorrow’s Latin class, do my readings for Capstone, work on some websites or wedding albums, and do my own Latin homework. I can work uninterrupted (except for dinner and evening chores) until it’s time for bed. How nice.

So without further ado, time for some productivity.

UPDATE 5pm: So things are humming along merrily and I’m getting all sorts of stuff done, printing document upon document, all ready for tomorrow, and BAM! the printer grinds to a halt and decides that the brand new black 56 print cartridge I recently installed is incompatible with its system. Yes, it told me this, with a little bouncing icon on my screen. I have always used black 56’s. Now we decide they are incompatible??? ARGH!!! How am I going to print out eleventy billion pages of Greek text for class tomorrow?

how???????????

It wasn’t a bad day, just a busy one.

7a: Ignore my alarm.
8a: finally get out of bed. Realize it’s snowing like crazy. Spend the next hour eating breakfast, doing chores, and debating whether I really want to venture off the farm into the wide white world, because every time I get behind the wheel these days, I’m pretty much convinced that I’m going to die before I reach my destination. However, Latin won out (as usual).
9a: i headed out. I discovered that it wasn’t quite as bad as it looked.
10a: I actually made it to Greek class on time.
11:15a: grabbed a bite of lunch in between sessions of Greek class.
1:00p: Latin class.
2:15p: Met with a professor.
4p: violin lesson with a new student. She’s cute and she’ll be fun to teach. She had already learned herself how to play twinkle twinkle little star. How precious is that? I forgot to watch the clock and managed to make a 1/2 hour lesson into an hour lesson. Oops.
5:30p: Arrive half-hour late for my next lesson. Rosalie feeds me dinner before I teach her kid–that was pretty cool.
7p: Arrive an entire hour late for my last lesson. (My students are pretty flexible.) Manage to keep the 1/2 hour lesson down to 45 minutes.
8p: finally home to mom and sibs and horsies. Time to do some paper-grading and write an exam for my Latin students. woohoo!