Up Up and Away!

Well, here it goes - my first post on my first blog!  I am very excited to begin this blogging journey - mainly so that I get to connect with and learn from other teachers like you :) Until this year, my new career of teaching left me with barely any time to eat, sleep, or even take a potty break! (I know -TMI - sorry ) Being a new teacher, I could not seem to find the balance that experienced teachers seem to have so effortlessly.  With three school aged boys at home and a husband running himself ragged trying to step in and pick up the slack (cause believe me - I was no help at home at all) - together, we decided that now was not be the best time for me to return to work full-time.  So, after 2 years in the classroom, I entered my principal's office at the end of last school year to turn in my notice. I had such mixed emotions.  My heart was so heavy, because in some aspects I felt that I had failed, but at the same time, my soul felt free again.

When this current school year started, I decided to sub for my teacher friends.  Subbing has its own set of challenges, but thankfully, planning all weekend long and staying up until 2 in the morning grading papers are not among them.  After subbing for my friend Melynda, our reading specialist - and going on and on about how much I LOVED IT (and wanted her job), a friend and colleague of mine (Rhonda - our math coach) went to bat for me asking our principal if I could be hired back to do something similar, but for math.  I think I accepted the job before my principal could even finish verbalizing the offer. (In truth - it was all I could do not to jump up and down for joy.)  Somehow I managed to keep my cool, and within three weeks of that conversation, I was  back on contract as a part-time math interventionist.

I will be forever grateful to my friends Melynda, Rhonda, and our principal, because I can now honestly say that I LOVE my job!!  I truly have the best of both worlds.  I get to work with the most wonderful group of teachers one could ever imagine, at a school that I love, with children that make me feel like a rock star every day.  (If you are a teacher - you know what I'm talkin' about.) At the same time, I can be home in the evenings and on weekends without papers to grade or hours of planning on the agenda.  I have time to cook meals (though we still eat out way too much), help with homework, attend school events and parties, build my TPT (and now blog design) businesses, and just be present for my family, physically and mentally, in a way that I have not been since I started back to school to get my teaching degree in 2010.  So - life definitely has its ups and downs!  This time last year, I felt as though I was drowning in a sea of responsibility, and today I am excitedly diving into new endeavors  :)

Let the journey begin!