Once again, I’m early with this week’s Word of the Week post, in an effort not to miss it. Sunday, will again be a travel day for me, as I will be coming home from my last trip of summer break, which ends on Monday, making this week’s word, “lacuna,” a fairly appropriate one.
As a teacher, I often field the question: What do you do all summer?–an implication that surely, with a two-month lacuna in the demands of my job, I will get bored. I can assure you, that is never a concern.
I came across the word “lacuna” in the novel I am (still) currently reading, 2666. Merriam-Webster’s simple definition of the word is “a gap or blank space in something: a missing part.” The full definition also includes “a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure.” Dictionary.com expands the definition to a third possibility: “an air space in the cellular tissue of plants.” “Lacuna” can also be applied to music, denoting an extended silence in a piece. I think my favorite definition for the word is probably the most general: “an unfilled space or interval; a gap,” which is the result of a simple Google search of the word (another result of said search being that The Lacuna is also a novel by Barbara Kingsolver, in case you’re interested).
This definition appeals to me for two reasons. One: Its broadness allows for the word’s application to so many spheres–music, language, work, manuscripts and texts, career, romance, physical landscape, memory, sleep–there could be a “lacuna” in practically anything. Two: My summer break is a kind of lacuna–a hiatus from the harried day-to-day of late August through mid June, when my days begin at 4:45 in the morning and often don’t end until long past my point of exhaustion.
And although “lacuna” denotes a sort of emptiness, a something missing, I can honestly say that my summer days are jam-packed–just not with stress and work and duties. My summer was indeed a lacuna in the daily grind, but was in no way devoid of activity. So, to answer the question with which we began: What did I do with my summer break–how did I fill that seeming lacuna? Here’s the short list:
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Visited family in Florida twice.
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Visited family in Michigan.
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Traveled to Pennsylvania twice, once for a family reunion and once to see a friend.
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Visited family in the Outer Banks twice.
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Worked on my novel in various capacities.
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Submitted pieces of my writing to various publications.
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Worked on lesson plans for the upcoming school year.
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Read two novels (still working on the third).
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Traveled to the Northern Neck a handful of times.
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Took my dogs on really long walks every morning.
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Spent bonus time with my local family.
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Went to the river a few times.
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Laid out in the sun.
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Threw a Summer Solstice Potluck Party.
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Kept my house marginally cleaner.
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Continued to maintain this lovely little blog.
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Attended a professional development session during which I created a class website.
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Took naps.
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Grew food.
I’ll stop there. I’m quite sure you get the point: Even my lacuna was full!
Now, go forth! You have been linguistically empowered!
Recent Words of the Week: