Half-formed thoughts by the girl with the scraped nose

On Friday, I gave a final exam, and then came home, packed and went on a camping trip.  It was kind of an abrupt transition, to go from the insane pace of the three-week course to a camping trip by the ocean.  I was so exhausted on that first night of camping, after all those late nights of lecture writing, and early mornings of teaching, and then that long drive through rush hour traffic and then setting up a campsite, that I was pretty much sleep walking while I was trying to get ready for bed.  I thought that I was used to the dark enough that I didn't need to use my flashlight to walk between the tent and our car, as I went and got a few last things.  I was wrong: as soon as I turned back from the car, I tripped over a large boulder, fell and landed right on my nose.  I was so tired that I hardly even noticed that I was falling; Ky said that I fell in slow motion, and she thought it was strange how I didn't put my hands out to stop my fall.  Really, I was asleep while walking, and while it registered a little bit that my shins hit something hard, it really surprised me when suddenly I felt my nose scraping against rocks. 

Chris and Ky came running, as they heard me quietly say "Owie.  Owie.  My nose."  We got me cleaned up and I went straight to bed (and to sleep), and it wasn't until the next morning that we discovered that I had a mild concussion.  (It is a good thing that we were camping with a nurse.)  The dizziness and clumsiness made the rest of the camping trip interesting (I was like a baby deer, trying to walk around the beach the next morning), but I was camping with good friends and I enjoyed myself in spite of myself. 

And now I'm back to the real world, and I have so much work to do.  It's strange trying to get a lot of marking done while you're still in the midst of post-camping chaos.  (Not to mention the post-concussion headache, and the scraped face that makes it difficult to wear my glasses!)  It's even stranger realising that we will be leaving for Saskatchewan within the week.  By this time next week, we should be with my family.

What a strange month June has been.