Are We Gonna Have a Good Year?

I was on the way out the door from work and Roger was leaving at the same time. Roger's a cool guy. We're both part of the original "49'er Club". A bunch of us were 49 years old at the same time, all 1973 high school graduates, contemplating turning 50. We decided there was strength in numbers and formed a group to celebrate the upcoming year of birthdays, one at a time. Now that we are 51, we decided that we are still the 49'er Club - kinda like Grandma who said she was never going to be older than 60. And she wasn't. She was 60 until she was 80-something.

Anyway, as we were leaving the office at 6 PM, Roger asked, "So, do you think we're going to have a good year?" Our academic year officially begins on September 25th with the onset of Fall term. We are in the endless loop of admitting, testing, orienting, advising, and registering new students. The other day, someone said it feels like the movie "Groundhog Day" and it does.... all day.... every day.... for weeks on end.

Roger and I both stopped to reflect. We've both been at the college long enough to see hopes dashed, programs and staff cut, administrators who are incompetent, faculty with inflated egos, and inter-office squabbling. And yet, we pods and drones of higher education still have that flash of Idealism. Optimism. Hope. Expectation. Like bugs to the lightbulb. We just can't help it.

We decided that we have to let some things go, not have high expectations, and drink more often. And then we'll have a pretty good year - we hope.

Emma Pod (notta drone)