I may have mentioned this in a previous blog, but I am still thinking about it, so it is worthy of a few more words.
I have always told people, if they asked, well, probably sometimes even if they didn't ask, that teaching and being a teacher was not something I did, it was who I am.
So, will that change now?
Who will I be?
Here's what I know today.
I am an encourager. "You can do it...remember what I taught you."
I am an organizer. "It is on the purple shelf, left side, half way down."
I am a doer. "What is the problem?"
I am a fixer. "You can do this..."
I am a sharer. "Here, let me show you how I did that."
I am, in the best sense of the word, a teacher.
I am a learner.
I am a loner....I know. How is that possible when I am also all of those other things?
I am a child of God.
I wonder if my husband will start telling me he is not one of my students when I start being bossy...ok, bossier.
I wonder when I will stop saying "we" when I talk about Kingwood Elementary where I taught for all but 3 of my 33 years, and start saying "they"?
I wonder what it will be like to not have at least a visual knowing of about 500 of the kids who live in my town?
I am just now having the urge to sing a chorus of "Que Sera, Sera" Whatever will be, will be...
I am a child of God.
I will find my new place to serve.
Right?
Hello Donna! That is a big change in life but I think you will always have enough to do and you will enjoy your new way of life!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words to Nero! Hugs for your furry friend!
xxx Teje
Thanks, Teje! Life is an adventure and is to be lived abundantly...
ReplyDeleteI think that it will be different. I don't know how it can help but be. But I didn't know what I'd do without having the children underfoot, or what I would be, either. And it was weird to leave teaching. I teach the horses and the dogs. I teach at church. I'd probably teach the walls, even if they couldn't hear me. I write what I know, what I think. So, I guess I can't stop.
ReplyDeleteWe live, truly, in our connections. For a while, not knowing by name and sight, all the children around you will be puzzling. But you will begin to relax into the thinning of responsibility there. I honestly thought my days would be slow and a little discouraging without the voices and energy and humor coming off my own kids when they finally went off on their own. But as my mother once said to me, "You get used to it."
You get used to being in charge of the the direction your face faces. You get used to being able to think contiguous thoughts. And suddenly, the thoughts take you places that lead to other places, and you find that you are busier, and less concerned with responsibilities (domestic) that you ever dreamed. Also older, of course.
A person like you fills up the space in which she finds herself. I think that's what I'm saying here. Fills it well, with light and energy. And every person who comes near will be able to warm him or herself at that light. Even when it's just through your words.
Today I got teary as I came into the quiet school to do my last lesson plans.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your mother. I will get used to it. And being able to decide things just for me...interesting thought.
Thanks for saying, again, what I am feeling and thinking and hoping...
I will find new ways to make connections that count with little and big people.
People like you!