Well, well…hello. Again! My goodness, it’s been literally almost 2 months. I seriously cannot believe it’s been two months since I last wrote, but then again I cannot believe all the changes we’ve had in that time either.
Since I last wrote, a busy stay-at-home mama who joined the PTA board at school, made the huge leap and is now a working mama {and no longer on the PTA board}.
Yes, you read that right, friends. I am now a full-time working mama.
You know how they say sometimes all it takes is being at the right place in the right time? This time all it took was being on a field trip and me having my big fat mouth, as usual.
It’s a funny story of how it all happened and I won’t bore you with the details, but basically because we all know I can talk to a brick wall I started a conversation with a teacher {who was a parent on the field trip}. We began talking, one thing led to another, and by the end of the day I had an interview on Monday for a teaching position that was coming available.
Whoa!
That was my thought exactly. I have to admit though, there was some kind of calm over me through the whole thing {and if you know me, the over-thinker, I usually freak out at things like this}. I prayed a lot and really felt God smiling and telling me to just “go with it.” That He had my back and He was with me every step of the way. It’s been a long time since I’ve had that feeling, but it felt so good and so right.
Eric and I talked about it and when he was as excited as I was, I knew this was it. Our lives were about to change. I was filled with excitement and joy, and never once nervousness {which again…not like me}.
The next couple of weeks was filled with interviews, lots of waiting, lots of secrets, a fall festival {put on by the PTA and yes, me}, and then it was time. I was handed a classroom full of wonderful 4th grade students on a platter. It might not have been a silver platter, but bless their hearts, those kids had been through a lot in the first quarter of the year. Before long, they will be on a silver platter, and I hope I will get them there. They are a great group of kids, and I enjoy teaching them everyday!
I started three weeks ago. It’s funny, walking back into the classroom after being gone for 7 years, seems like I never left. The teaching feels so right…feels great. The planning is good, a lot because I’m basically living day to day, but let’s face it that’s how teachers really are anyway. I’ve got the most awesome team known to man. They support each other, share ideas and plans, and just have fun. They really enjoy what they’re doing and I love being around them. We are all so much alike in the fact that we just like to be happy.
I get asked all the time, “How’s it going? How’s it been being back at work?” I can honestly say it feels great. I love teaching. It’s in my bones and in my heart. Going from a stay-at-home mama one day to a full-time working mama the next has had it’s changes. I’ve had to learn how to make a menu for the week and get all my shopping done on the weekend. I don’t get to laundry until the weekend, and I don’t get my almost daily Starbucks run {which my thighs thank me}, but over all the changes have been good. I go to school with my kids and come home with them. They are loving me being there with them…especially Dallas. Her confidence is soaring and we are seeing so many great changes in her. It’s the little things. I don’t get to go have coffee or lunch with friends whenever I want. I miss that, but again my thighs thank me. I don’t have the social calendar I used to, and I don’t get to talk to my bestie whenever I want, and that makes me sad.
However, there have been so many positive changes in me going back to work. I have a new purpose. For the last couple of years I have really started feeling like I needed something more. Don’t get my wrong, I have loved every minute of being at home with my babies. I am so grateful and feel so blessed to be able to stay home with them. Over the last couple of years though I started feeling that they didn’t need me as much anymore, and I needed a new purpose. I didn’t really know what that was, and wasn’t sure it was teaching. I joined the PTA board to get my face in the school, get my name out there, and see if I had a feeling for it again. Next thing I knew, the good Lord put and angel in my path and wha-la…my purpose was anew.
In going back in the classroom, I feel much different than I did 10 years ago when I first started. I feel so much more confident in myself, in who I am, and what I can do, and that is a good feeling. I’m much more compassionate in some aspects now that I am a parent and not just some kid out of college reciting text book information. I feel so much happier and better in this body than I did so many years ago. Not sure I can conquer the world, but I know I can conquer 4th grade, and I look forward to the rest of the year with these great students and a great team.
I’m not sure how much or how often I will post in this blog because let’s face it, at the end of the day there’s not much time. I will post when I can. I’ve been using my crockpot a bunch and have made some great recipes I hope to share with you. I’ve got a few crafty things up my sleeve and can hopefully get to those now that I’m tracked out. {Oh yeah, I get a three week break now to wrap my head around all this craziness.} I’ll be around and I hope y’all will stick around and check in from time to time.
Thanks for stopping by!
S~
