I remember my kids saying that they had it. I remember a teacher telling me that my daughter had a serious case of it. But hey, I didn’t really think that I would come down with it. Wouldn’t I, the person who loves classes and gets excited about assignments, be immune to it? It shocked me a bit to realize that the answer is no. I am not immune and worst yet, I think I may have it.

It began a couple weeks ago. The first symptom I noticed was that I had to force myself to focus on the lectures. I kept wondering how much longer I had to sit there. I found my brain wondering off to other things.

Secondly, I wondered how much work I could not do and still get a passing grade.

I nixed that idea very quickly.

The third symptom was a real shock. I found myself wondering which classes I could skip without affecting my grade. But that smacked of the same kind of unethical behavior I hated in my employees when they called in sick, even though they were healthy enough to go to the beach or a concert.

Recently I find that I keep putting off my homework until the absolute last minute. And I am a little resentful that my friends are going off on their motorcycles with out me.

I keep telling myself to forget it. Just get through it; after all it is the last semester. Next summer I can go with them. But I still feel like I am missing out on something.

I find I don’t want to be in class, and my mind is already thinking ahead to what happens when this semester is over and I am done with my degree.

I call my friend, Michele, every Friday as I leave campus. It has become a ritual to leave her the official end of the week message. It goes something like this; “Hey, it’s me. We finished one more week and we only have X more weeks to go.”

We are in the count down.

As mid-term quickly approaches, I am getting more excited and the symptoms are becoming more pronounced. I can no longer deny it. I must accept the diagnosis. I have been infected with senioritis and it has nothing to do with my age.