I spoke to my mother yesterday about the fact that I NEED a break. At the moment that I spoke to her, I was delivering this news as a very stern statement of fact rather than a malaised lament.

The truth is that a break is, in fact, on the way. It is only the third week of March but we are, at this point, only five classes away from the end of the term. Who could ask for a better break than that? Well, I can, and, fortunately, the school obliges. In just under a month, we have a "spring break" just one week before the end of the term!

Last year I thought this was the most ridiculous concept thing I'd ever encountered. Now, in the thick of trying to design a doctoral project, complete a string of theory courses, and make the 'smooth' transition from practicum level of care to internship readiness, I find that this innovation of vacation right before the end is truly brilliant. Any faults aside, for this reason alone, the school should be canonized. This year I am trying ardently to go someplace exotic - the Bahamas, Bermuda, Jamaica...

It occurs to me that I will not likely have someone to go with. But, at this point, I am eager for a week by myself. What a funny thing for someone to say when she is half way through a degree preparing her to talk to people every day for the rest of her working life. Yet I do not perceive a contradiction here. I have noticed that someone about working with others has allowed me to connect with a certain silent place within myself. And, conversely, remembering that silent part of myself makes me better at my work. And then I remember, though the break is at the end of the academic semester, it is a solid month and a half before the end of my placement year. So, yes, I think I will joyfully take the pause, grab a book, and just lay on a beach somewhere (hopefully) in solitude. Hopefully, thereafter I will be ready to finish this last segment of my work at this site well.

adwoa