Do you hear it? Has it started for you yet? I heard it for the first time yesterday. Tick tock, tick tock. I stopped and cocked my head. Was I really hearing this sound? So soon? I'm not ready! I have too much left to do, I screamed in my head.
What was this sound? You know it. The sound the remaining minutes of summermake as they run away. In their place, the call of a new school year. Tick tock, tick tock. This is the 9th year I've heard the call, the summons really, to return to structure. To put aside leisure. To embrace change and challenge.
Am I ready? NO! Luckily, the sound is fairly quiet so far. But, every day I know it will become louder...louder....louder until like the narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart, I must accept the sound...but without the madness and murder. :)
Enjoy the quiet, but be ready. Tick tock, tick tock. You will hear it before you are ready.
I already heard it. I am working in schools the first 2 weeks of August so I started preparing last week. Where did those lazy, hazy days of summer go?
ReplyDeleteThis is so well written--love the Poe connection. For me, it's been more like the jarring ring of an old-fashioned alarm clock. Ugh. I wish I could hit snooze a few times!
ReplyDeleteLove the idea that the sound is still rather quiet, but you're so right, it's coming! I already have some meetings set. Oh boy!
ReplyDeleteI am holding on with all of my might and trying to put ear-muffs on at the same time! I am NOT ready!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the tick, tock that repeats throughout your story. The days are ticking away quickly, but another amazing year awaits. Enjoy the rest of your summer and good luck in preparation for the upcoming school year.
ReplyDeleteI am so used to hearing it, that I imagine that I'm hearing it now. This is my first year of retirement, and still the tick, tock is a faint sound in my mind. I wonder when it stops?
ReplyDeleteYour post had a "ring" (or should I say "tick") to it, that I'd been thinking about lately. My post today links to yours! Thanks for helping me sort it out. http://mainelywrite.blogspot.com/2011/07/when-does-it-stop.html
ReplyDeleteOh, gosh. Yes. It is a tick-tock feeling. I don't think you ever stop hearing that sound as a teacher.
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