the end of a season

Around this time last year, I was scared to death. Newly pregnant, I'd just been offered a full-time teaching job downtown.

Today, 12 months later, I'm sitting at my desk, on the second to last day of school. My baby is at home playing happily with her Grandmom and my students are at recess.

I'm scared now, too, but mostly just grateful. You see, this is my last week of teaching for the indefinite future. I get the privilege of taking a teaching hiatus to spend my days with Charlotte.

 

The week that I needed to sign my contract to come back to teaching, I was absolutely dragging my feet. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a teacher. The classroom is one of my favorite places to be. But now, with Charlotte, I'm different. While I love teaching, I hate missing hours and hours watching my little girl grow. I hate missing her first roll and her millions of happy squeals. Plus, the almost-an-hour-each-way commute has been slowly killing my happiness. During that week of feet-dragging, three part-time opportunities were mentioned and I felt a huge sense of peace with not signing  my teaching contract.

So next year I'm taking off my teacher hat and spending more time wearing my Mom hat.

And also my youth leader hat!! My church has hired me to work 12 hours a week with the junior high kids!! This is an incredible opportunity and I'm so honored to have this new job. My commute will be a 3 minute walk and my hours are basically flexible enough to work around Charlotte's needs and Joel's work schedule.

The end of this school is especially bittersweet. I'm so pumped for summer and super excited to get more time with Charlotte next year. But saying goodbye to my kids makes me sad, and thinking about giving up teaching for a while is a big adjustment. My time as a teacher definitely isn't over, but this is the end of a season.