Month-end

Looking back, looking ahead.

Grieve the losses.

Sadness, failures, discouragement, defeat.

Celebrate the good stuff.

The opportunities, the options, the possibilities.

The victories.

Steps taken, even the tiny ones.

The beginnings and the endings.

The starting and maybe especially the finishing.

Completions.

Conclusions.

Letting go.

Closure.

The end of a chapter.

Turning a page.

Things done well.

Things barely done.

What works?  What doesn’t?

What worked this past month?

What needs to change for the coming one?

Why do I keep noticing the date?

August 31…

Why does it catch my attention and give me pause?

Maybe it reminds me of my feelings about September, which has always felt like a new year.  When you are teachers and have kids in school, that’s the way life goes.  Maybe it will always feel that way.

We seem to need interludes.

Week-ends.

Maybe month-ends even more

A pause to note. To notice. To reflect.

To notate the shift. 

An alternative to just marking time.

Good-bye, sweet summer.

Good-bye, August.

Happy month-end.

Hello, new month. New year.

New season.

New opportunities. New unknowns.

Fresh starts.

Fresh focus.

Fresh gratitude that life goes on.

Here’s to more beginnings and endings.

Here’s to another new chapter.

Happy month-end to us.