Finish Line? Or first hurdle?

I am beyond excited that this first semester is drawing to a close. I'm even more excited that I am actually ahead of my assignments and did not wait until the final moment to complete my Chapter 1 allowing me to already have received some feedback (realizing now as I write that how terribly incorrect it is grammatically...). This Thursday my class and I will get to share, for the first time, where we're really headed with our projects. We have shared before, earlier in the term, what topics we thought we were going to explore but I know some of us have changed direction (either slightly or drastically as I did). I am looking forward to hearing updates about everyone's projects as I have genuine interest in all the topics my colleagues are investigating.

Because this Thursday marks the end of our first term, and one small portion of our writing being complete (albeit temporarily complete until it gets revised in the future), it feels as though I am crossing a finish line. End of term. End of Chapter 1. Moving on.

Then reality sets in as I register for next term which will be starting almost immediately upon the completion of this term. That's when I realize this is no finish line at all. If anything, it is just the jumping of the first of many hurdles. It is one tiny step toward my end goal. It is probably the easiest of the terms I will have to complete and that makes me a bit uneasy. I'm not sure how I will balance the demanding nature of my next courses while still teaching and trying to integrate our students' new Chromebooks that will roll out in the next few weeks. 

It's the same sort of feeling that I get at the end of every school year. As school draws to a close in June it feels like a finish line but it also feels like the starting point for the next year. Because I spend a good chunk of the summer preparing for the upcoming school year it is really more like this: 

Yay you finished! Now get started again!

And while I swear I'm not trying to make this entire blog a dedication to music from my past, I can't help feeling that my thoughts as of this moment are perfectly encapsulated in this one lyric "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

Name that late-90's tune. Bonus points for the artist.