Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings.
Not all things are blest, but the
seeds of all things are blest.
The blessing is in the seed.
From “Elegy in Joy” by Muriel Rukeyser
I’m sitting in a coffee shop, Post-it note to-do list and rapidly filling academic year planner at hand. I checked Twitter to find that Jim is also preparing for the beginning of the school year. As usual, he offers thoughtful and timely encouragement to teachers planning for another year in the classroom.
I’m feeling uncharacteristically optimistic this year. The stress of the new year tends to overwhelm me for a couple of weeks before I get back in a good rhythm. There’s no less to do this year than usual and likely some of it won’t get done before students return on Wednesday, but I feel more ok with that than I have in previous years.
I choose a poem for each year I teach. Below is the one I’ve picked for this year…
Contentment
by Michael Ryan
Fragile, provisional, it comes unbidden
as evening: the children on the block
called in to dinner that for tonight
is plentiful, as if it had cost nothing
either in money or worry about money.
Then evening deepens and the street
turns silent. There may be disasters
idling in driveways, and countless distresses
sharpening, but all that matters
most that must be done is done.
In For Good 
Thanks for posting this. My students start on Wednesday, and I’m starting to feel excited and antsy. I needed this reminder. By the way, I thought of you, Bill, and Bethany today when James Taylor came on the radio in my van. I almost tweeted you guys, but I was driving. Blessings on a great start to the year.
Love this post, Meredith! I’ve been wavering between anxiety and excitement as I begin to gear up for the school year. Appreciate you taking the time to put it all in perspective.