dead days...

... is the week between Thanks/Fall break and finals for schools on the semester system. Apparently a period of time when instructors are limited in what they can demand from students headed into the final stretch. No papers or projects due during that week to give students a little breather, before they start cramming info. into their brains for the testing period that determines pass or fail. This is all new to me, such an oldster my higher education was done back during the 'quarter' era, as opposed to the more current/in vogue semester plan.

I thought dead days, or dead week, was that time between Christmas and New Years when you could take a deep breath and slowly exhale, without feeling like you needed to be more productive. A time when the hustle and bustle was over,  holiday shopping and gift giving were history. When there is nothing that desperately needs attention, no busy-ness on the agenda with a sense of urgency attached.  All that is left is the slowly creeping dread of knowing the credit card bill will eventually slip through the mail slot and it will be time to pay the piper.

I heard a hilarious message from someone on our church staff several years ago, based on 'dead week', when most of his fellow workers were taking vacation time, and he got left to prepare a sermon for the Sunday that fell in the middle of those two holidays. We were amused by a clip from the movie "Princess Bride", with Billy Crystal using blacksmith bellows to bring someone back to life. Though the person in question appeared corpse-like, the character Billy played insisted only 'nearly dead', and proceeded to bring the lifeless back from the great beyond. I continually hope to get a replay of that message each year, when we get to the Sunday that occupies a space in 'dead week'.

Eternally optimistic, always hoping church will be amusing as well as informative and enlightening...