Dusting Day

Near the end of August each year, I pick a day to shut down the computer a little early, get out my cleaning supplies, and go to work.  Today’s that day.  I’ve already cleared some things off my desk (noticing, along the way, that my file drawers could also benefit from a thinning), and I’m set to give it a 4:00 dusting.

Why this little tradition?  The new students will be here on Monday!  It’s nice to greet them in a clean work space, of course; but, more to the point, the control-paced days of summer are coming to an end.  Once the newbies and all their questions arrive, it’s one phase of the admissions process after another, until it slows down again next May.  That’s the nature of our cyclical work.  Best to dust before it all begins.

I admit that there are a few things I’ll be scrambling to finish this afternoon (somehow the to-do list is never completely to-done), but I feel ready for the students.  As Kristen said the other day, it’s great to finally meet people we already feel we know.