About a month ago, we (and by we I mean everyone that lives around me except actually me) planted a garden. What started as a little vegetable project became a 30 x 60 plot.
We celebrated Easter.
Also last month I decided on a big change. I accepted a position as a graduation coach at Carter High, my alma mater. Changing jobs has been a consideration in my mind for more than a little while, and the timing just seems right for a lot of reasons. However, it wasn't an easy decision to make. When I say that West High School and those kids have a part of my heart, I can't be more serious. Yesterday as a I sat at Senior Luncheon for the last time (at least for a little while...), we watched the video that some of my kids made, and it took everything I had to prevent the trickle of tears from turning into a full out sob. In a lot of ways I grew up there. I started when I was 21. Leaving that place behind is leaving more than just a classroom; it's leaving a lot of memories. It's leaving memories of the highest highs and the lowest lows. It's leaving people that I consider family; the same people who helped bear the load when I should have been a new mom but was dealing with something very different instead. West High School is who I am, and what a terrifying proposition, at this stage in the game, to become someone else. But, Clint and I worked through it, and we decided to go for it. That's the thing about a change like this: it's a family affair. He is just as invested as I am. In August I will go back to school. I will be terribly nervous that first day because it isn't somewhere that I have been in quite a while. I will be tackling a new set of responsibilities, and I will be sick about missing the nuances of West that I enjoy so much. In the long run, though, I am praying that this will be really good. I am praying that I can reach a different set of kids and that I prove to be just as effective there as I feel I am in the classroom. Regardless of all my hopes, on the drive in that morning I am sure I will have to play a little TuPac to fortify my spirit. I am trying to find out, I guess, if change really is good for any of us.
