My Final Day Of Teaching!!!

For 2012, anyway.

This is the day that I've been counting down anxiously both in my head, and on my board at school.  The kids have watched the numbers dwindle down from double digits, to single digits, and now down to zero. 

It is the last day of school before Christmas break... YAY!!!!

It has been such a good week, and I have been overwhelmed with the blessings and joy that have been brought to me both by my teaching family and the kids.

On Monday, one of my 4th grade counterparts (who also happens to be my mentor) bought me a new Tiger watch, a large candy cane coffee mug, and a pair of aloe socks.  Yesterday, my other 4th grade counterpart bought me a beautiful new shirt and a new pinkie ring that's gorgeous!  I also got a big bottle of bubble bath from my co-teacher that looks like a huge Christmas ball...so cute!  I was deeply touched by the wonderful gifts.  I work with such fantastic people.

Being that I'm so warm and fuzzy this morning...feeling that is...I thought I'd take this opportunity to take a look back at 2012.  What a year it's been, that's for sure.  It's a year that will go down in my history books because it was the year that one of my biggest dreams finally came true.

January - I started the year out exactly how I've started every year out for as many years as I can remember... thinking about losing weight.  2013 will be no exception.  I'm a little embarrassed to say that I've started over too many times to count, but the fact that I keep starting over reminds me that I haven't completely given up on the prospect that one day I won't be so big.  I've done it before - I can do it again.

February - Working as a teacher's aide, this was the month when the thoughts of trying to find a teaching job, AGAIN, started fuzzing around in my mind.  Would I be able to find a job in the district I was working?  Would I be able to get a job in the school I was working in?  So many people were filling me with hope and optimism that this would be my year...and that I'd be exactly where I was supposed to be.  Meaning the school I was working in.  Unbeknownst to them, there were different plans in the making.

March - My momma turned 50..even though she doesn't look a day over 40.  I took my first family camping trip.  I gained more weight, and worried even more about finding a job.

April - I participated in the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure.  My third year doing it, my first year not even attempting to run.  Peanut and I walked the whole thing.  Even though I was happy I still did it, I wasn't happy that I had let myself get to a point where running wasn't an option - again.  I started looking in to a new diet program called The Writing Diet.  No real gimmicks or restrictions - just writing about my feelings before I ate away my feelings.  And you know what?  It worked for me.  Unfortunately I didn't stick with it.  Broken record, or what?  This was also the month that I really jumped in to the job hunt.  Can we say stress eating?  Oh yes.  By the tons.

May - What a complete and utter rollarcoaster of a month this one was.  I started out the month in one of the lowest places I'd ever let myself get.  I had been shunned and turned away from any job prospects in the district I was working in.  The school district I'd spent a year trying to impress, giving it my all, working my tail end off for as a teaching assistant just gave me that smile and said "We appreciate you, we just don't want to offer you a teaching job...it's much more cost effective to pay you as a teacher's assistant".  OK, so they weren't the actual words given to me - but that's exactly how I felt.  Only a couple of interviews and absolutely no prospects.  I was devastated.  Then, I received a phone call from a different district in a different state.  A phone call that didn't really hold much weight for me - because if I couldn't get a job in the district I'd worked in for a year... why on earth would I get a job in a district that didn't know me from Adam?  But you know what?  That didn't matter!  On May, 18th 2012, I got to hear the words I'd literally waited most of my life to hear "We'd like for you to come and teach in our school".  Overwhelmed?  Huh, I didn't know the meaning of the word until that day.  Tears, joy, happiness, relief...all rolled in to a few minutes.  The day had come that would forever change my life, yet I still didn't know how truly blessed I was going to be.

June - The end of being a teacher's assistant, the beginning of summer break knowing that in a few short months I was going to be stepping foot in to my own classroom.  How did I celebrate?  By spending the entire month living at my parent's babysitting for them while they went to England.  It was a horribly long month, let's leave it at that.

July - Back home in my own place, enjoying the summer.  I spent a lot of time making plans and preparations for my new classroom, boxed up a lot of stuff, and enjoyed sleeping and spending time with my kiddos.

August - This was it.  Dream come true, part II.  Stepping in to my first classroom...MY CLASSROOM.  I worked for days and days to get it just right.  Then, on August 16th, I became a teacher.  My first day teaching, my first day with my amazing bunch of kiddos, one of the best days of my life!

September - I was getting the hang of stuff.  I was overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to do.  I was loving every minute of it!  I really started getting to know the wonderful people I was working with and truly understood why I had been selected to be part of their family - because it's just where I belong.

October - First classroom party.  This was a fun one.  The kids were rocking it and making amazing gains in all areas.

November - Another amazing month... holidays, tests, work, and happiness.  My head was spinning by how quickly time had flown by, and that in no time at all I was going to be preparing for Christmas.

December - Here we are.  The love for my life and my job has only grown in the past month - if that's even possible.  The first half of my first year teaching has been everything I thought it would be and so much more.  I can't even put in to words how much love and happiness I have in my life right now.  I work with THE most amazing group of people I've ever met in my life.  I have the best kiddos in my classroom that bring me smiles and laughs each and every day.  Today is the last day I get to be with them for 2012 - and I'm going to do everything in my power to make it the best day before Christmas break they've ever had.  Because I owe it to them...they have made each and every day since August my best days EVER!

I'm looking forward to ya, 2013... but it sure is going to be tough to beat such an amazing year as 2012.