Is it December yet?

Okay - so this has been a bit of a slog. In this semester I went from spending 4 hours a week in classes to 13 hours a week. Now of the 13 only 9 are my courses. The other 4 are dedicated to the undergrad course that I am T/Aing. Now please do not get me wrong - I love teaching even when my job is to backstop the instructor of record - who just happens to be the Dean of my faculty.

It is a lot of fun to stand in front of a room full of eager faces - well sometimes confused faces - and to help them to sort through the theory to the important insights they need to get through university. In fact I know that I want to teach. It is just that right now I am also loaded down with my own stuff. It is probably a good thing that I am only in the process of working on a new relationship. If I was actually living with someone who I was emotionally involved with I suspect our relationship would soon be in the toilet.

However, I have the incredibly good fortune of living with a dear friend and just yesterday we talked about how much simpler it is to live with someone who is a friend - just a friend. We have all the advantages of stimulating company with no expectations of having to synchronize our lives. I want to head out of town for a weekend - no problem. She won't be around this week - fine.

I have to confess that getting through this semester has in large part been made possible by that special relationship. Margo opened her home to me and and made me feel like I belong - as a friend not a partner. Her generosity has given me space to grow and yes to heal. Coming back to Calgary was a difficult choice for me. Now I know it was the right one.

But now December approaches and and with it the end of the semester. Of course that means holidays and the anniversary of my breakup. Last year I fled eastward. This time I will be heading west to Victoria to kick back and relax and to recover another fragment of my past.