Wanderlust

Ever since I dropped the application to renew my passport into the mail, I have been suffering from a bad, bad case of wanderlust. Maybe that’s not the only thing that has made me feel, well, restless. It is that time of the academic year when Dr. Disenchanted starts dreaming of escape. You probably know the feeling: you’re sitting in your office, surrounded by stacks of grading, hounded by students who need to register for classes, pestered by colleagues who should really know how to read the advising sheet (after three years of advising – argh!), and swamped with meetings of all varieties — search committees, curriculum committees, chairs’ meetings, department meetings, meeting, meetings, meetings. It’s dark when you get up and it’s dark when you go home. (Oh yeah, my list of semester goals has now gone out the window.) Your house is filthy because you can’t find the time or energy to actually mop the kitchen floor. Your husband’s football season feels like it’s in its 20th week instead of just starting the playoffs. In fact, the last time you left home was to go to a football game in a town about an hour away. Your plans for this weekend’s escape — to see family — have fallen through.

It’s no wonder that the wanderlust has grown strong.

I do have some trips coming up in the future: conferences in Atlanta and Alexandria, VA; a fun trip to Oaxaca in March; and a family/research trip to New York sometime this summer. The problem is: Will I make it that long without a trip? The last two years, we have taken nice vacations to Arizona and New Mexico at Christmas time. This year, nothing is planned because our break is short and our funds are low. Sigh.