Beginnings (A Shmushy Post) This is my favorite time of vacation. The first night, when it's all in front of me and I haven't wasted any of it by watching shows on Hulu. I'm not thinking gloomily about how many days are left and I'm not one bit worried about the heavy bag of ungraded papers sitting by the front door.

Beginnings are always good. It would be pretty hard for me to move to a climate where I couldn't have the first days of a new season four times a year--when someone spots snow outside the window and the teachers are just as excited as the kids, the first day I can go outside without a jacket, or ride with the car windows down, and buds coming out all over. It's officially summer weeks before school lets out, but for me it really begins when I wave to my colleagues and walk out into that parking lot at the very end of June... and the best day, when the air turns crisp again and smoky from the first fireplace fires of the season.

It's the anticipation I've always been a sucker for. When I was a kid onstage, directors and my dad always told me I leaned forward too much. Even now I catch myself sitting on the very edge of chairs. Ramona Quimby got in trouble for taking one bite (the first, the best) out of all the apples in the basement, and I won't read a book unless it grabs me on the first page.

I like beginnings best, with one exception that I realized today. With Anthemsled I've surprised myself; as good as the beginning was, it has gotten better and better as time has gone on. Another first.  ¶ 5:12 PM