MonkeyPants

Ritual.

Labour Day evening. Everything’s done and ready for the beginning of school tomorrow. Even though I teach all summer, I have a lifetime’s worth of conditioning that means that The New Year starts tomorrow.

House clean? Check.
Fridge cleaned out? Check.
Groceries bought? Check.
New shoes? Check.
Clothes laid out? Check.
Conversation with Gen? Check.

Genevieve and I are both teachers, and we both feel the September Pull. Although I work in the private sector and she in the public, we both gear up the same way: Clean, plan, figure the angles, shop. And as long as we have both been teaching, we speak at some point on Labour Day. I think of us like two racehorses touching noses before we hit the starting gates, just to say, ‘Hey. I know what’s going on with you. Me too.’

So to Genevieve and all the rest of us who run at the starting bell tomorrow, good luck!