A State Of Decompression

My exams are over, and I have immediately entered a state of decompression.

I am not tired, because I have been getting plenty of rest, but I have been very keyed-up for the last month, ever since classes ended, and I am relieved that exams are now over. The exams were in the back of my mind the entire holiday period, which inhibited my enjoyment of Christmas this year, and I am now ready to celebrate by doing something crazy, like running in circles or jumping up and down.

I am off until a week from Monday, and it will seem strange to me not to have every minute scheduled. I’m not even sure what I should do tomorrow and Friday, since Andrew will be at work, but my instinct tells me that I should read a good book that is as much unlike legal casebooks as possible or bug my sister to death about some non-existent issue, such as the prospect of the Taliban invading Vanderbilt by stealth.

Andrew has been shouldering all the household tasks since Christmas, and I would like to pay him back, except there is nothing for me to do. The apartment is clean as a whistle, there is no laundry to be done, no food shopping necessary, no errands that need to be run, and no mail to plow through. Perhaps I should make a mess, and then clean it up afterward.

Alex is coming to visit us on Friday. On Friday afternoon, it will be my job to drive to the airport and pick him up and bring him home.

I’m glad he’s coming. Even though we last saw him two weeks ago, the time is convenient for a visit owing to my current break and owing to the holiday weekend. Alex was planning on visiting us in March, on the weekend before or the weekend after my Spring Break, but he advanced his visit after I told Andrew’s mother over Christmas that Andrew was becoming depressed in Boston.

“I know. I can see it” was her response, but she also said that she knew exactly what to do. One of her remedies was to suggest that Alex come see us after my exams were over but before my classes for the second term began. Alex was only too happy to plan a visit to Boston this weekend—in fact, he may come visit us in March, too, as we originally planned—because it will give him something interesting and different to do over the long holiday weekend. He enjoys walking around cities, looking at historic buildings and examining interesting architecture, and the fact that it will be cold in Boston this weekend will not bother him in the least, since he grew up in cold weather and positively thrives on it.

We have a full schedule of activities planned, and it should be a swell weekend for all of us.

As for me, I brought four books back from Minneapolis specifically to occupy me next week. I chose books I should have read before now, but which have somehow escaped me. Between “David Copperfield”, “The Mill On The Floss”, “The Sun Also Rises” and “Tender Is The Night”, I should be able to occupy myself next week while Andrew is at work, catching up on books I already should know and clearing my mind of legal case studies.

If the books do not sustain my interest, I’ll have to come up with a diabolical plan to frighten my sister, forwarding to her secret news of the deadly bacteria rampaging through Vanderbilt’s Food Services Division and the shameful efforts of Vanderbilt’s administration to hide this alarming development from students.