I’m back.

There are two more half-days left until summer break. Both are final examination days, and there’s that rare mix of excitement and stress in the air, as the anticipation of summer looms behind the worry of grades and test scores.

This was my big day to get much of my paperwork taken care of, as exams were for periods 1 and 2–both planning periods for me. I did get a lot accomplished, and I was fortunate to have Brent and Lenore stay after school and help me clean the room. (The pizza was quite good, too). They are wonderful individuals, and I am grateful to know them.

In the middle of cleaning, though, I received an email from the registrar’s office at Towson University, where I teach both undergraduate (fall and spring) and graduate (summer) courses. One of my students felt as if my style was too laid back for her, and so she dropped the course. as a result, my enrollment dipped below the minimum allowed, and the course was cancelled.

Correction: my course. I designed and wrote the course in the past 6 months, pitched it to the folks at Towson, and it was ready to fly. I’m sad about the loss of summer income, but I’m more saddened by the fact that I won’t see this class become fully realized with student-writers.

I know there’s always next summer, and the option does exist in the future to teach this as an online course, but the sting is strong today. It makes me feel quite like the failure in many ways.

I know doors will open up, and I will use this time to work on my writing more fully. I will invest more time into Lines as well, but there’s still an emptiness that exists right now.

I will cope. It will all be fine. But still . . . .

More later, probably. I’m signing out now. It’s 2:37 p.m.