Friday, May 13, 2016

It's the End

It's the end of the school year as we know it!  By now most, if not all colleges have closed up shop for the summer.  I am sure it's such a good feeling.  I know for me it is.  For what will be a short month there won't be night and weekend obligations.  I hope everyone had a good year and all those who started new jobs, either moved institutions or were starting your first jobs had good experiences at new places.  It's kind of hard to decide if your year has been successful or not, well you survived so that is the first sign of success.  If you made an impact on just one person's life weather it was a student, someone you were advising, or even someone you were working with, that would be considered successful.

I am sure all of you have had to do this at one point or another, close a building.  As a wife, I don't completely understand all that goes into closing a building other then not seeing my husband for pretty much a whole weekend.  Those experiencing  this for the first time, trust me it's normal and it's all apart of the business.  Yes, it can be hard because it's not something that happens, but the sliver lining is that it's only one weekend out of the year.  Yes, on the flip side of that is opening but that's not as time consuming at most places as closing.  When you have a significant other having to close a building the best you can do is be patient.  Understand that even when they are home they might be call away to deal with something.  They will come home completely worn down because they are walking the whole entire building and doing it multiple times depending on where the rooms that still need to be checked are.  Also be prepared for what could be horror stories.  College students aren't always as clean as you were in college(and if you weren't the cleanest person in your residence hall then you now have a new respect for your hall director).  I am sure your significant other will complain about everything from the smell to the state of the bathroom.  Unfortunately not everyone will think about cleaning when they are just wanting to get the heck out of dodge.  Who you should feel for are the custodians who will have to get all of that cleaned up.  If your college hosts conferences or camps most of the buildings will be used throughout the summer so will need to be completely cleaned in a timely manner.

Now is the time of the year that you can actually do most of your couple stuff.  Over the summer before training starts there are not that many night and weekend obligations because student organizations don't meet, there are no events going on and unless they are coordinator for a camp or conference they spend all their time in their office and just meetings among other housing staff.  For the first time they might come home at a decent hour, not have to go back to work after dinner, won't have to be up early on a Saturday to make an event.  That pesky duty phone will barely ring.  It will be a wonderful and glorious thing until training starts so take advantage of summer time while you can.  It will go by fast and before you know it, your significant other will be knee deep in training and opening and then the regular school year will start and everything will start all over again.

A bit of good news is that it does seem to get easier as the years go on and of course as your significant other gets different jobs at different levels, there will be different obligations when it comes to all those different times of year and that will also make it a bit easier.  Now it might never get to the point there they have no obligations at closing, only if they leave housing, but their level of participation will change as they change jobs.  Just know that you can handle it.  It's honestly only a small blip of time in the course of your life.  For me, when my husband works late, it's time for me to watch those chick flicks I know he wouldn't really want to watch with me.  I haven't done it yet, but if you have a lot of girlfriends, or are friends with other housing wives, then take this opportunity to have a girls night so you all don't feel alone.  Heck go to bed early just so you can have the whole bed to yourself for a while.  Just remember they are doing what they love and are passionate about and your love and support is all they need to get through the long days.

Hope everyone experienced a smooth closing and will enjoy their summer.