Little Gifts of Time

Shabby Apple dress... Wouldn't this be perfect for my Jerusalem trip?

When that infamous snow day hit Notre Dame two weeks ago (hard to believe given today's balmy weather) I remember what I was most grateful for was the chance to slow down. Like so many other college students, I'm always just a little bit overbooked, sleep-deprived and running behind schedule.

I don't often stop and think about how many activities I'm involved in, but there's a ton. Blogging here, blogging there and there, ISI Honors Program and the attendant conferences, LFN Student Fellow and its conferences, working at the Alumni Association 10 hours/week, Southold, Rodzinka, weekly classes for Jerusalem, senior thesis, the intimidating Job Search, etc. It's a little overwhelming so I try not to think about it and just keep up as best I can.

At one point during the Edith Stein Project weekend, though, I was busily shooting my mouth off to Eileen about ways to get more involved ("Apply for ISI! And LFN! Oh and you should start a blog!") when she turned to me and said, "Tess, when do you have the time to do homework??" At the time I laughed it off and said "I don't sleep!" but she had a point, I am super involved. Sometimes when I stop and think about it, I panic in the face of all that reading, writing, emailing and craziness. Instead of getting things done like I should, I go escape into the world of online shopping or reading pretty blogs, where I don't have deadlines or grades or pressure.

Today, though, I had two classes canceled, giving me the privilege of three extra hours all to myself. Such gifts of time are rare and not to be squandered. I decided this morning to cherish and make the most of it by using my time productively.

First I spent an hour working on my senior thesis, finally sending my professor the next 12 pages. That brings the ole thesis up to 40 pages, woo hoo!

Then I had a lunch date with some friends at Greenfields Cafe. We celebrated not having class over interesting organic meals and the weirdest food-ordering set-up ever (it involved individual clipboards, to give you an idea).

Then I emailed contacts for some news stories for work and printed out pages of reading for class.

Since then I've been doing nothing but picking out dresses from Shabby Apple and Modcloth for my Jerusalem trip.

What can I say? Even I can't be responsible all the time. Besides, what ever is the point of having extra time if I can't use it to shop online? :)