Why I teach...

Why do you do what you do? Have you ever stopped to think about it? Why do you clock into that job each and every day... is it because its your calling? It pays the bills? Its fun? I hope you can truly love what you do- whatever it is. I am not here to say that I love my job every single day. In fact, there are many days I ask Robert, "why again am I not just staying home and being a house wife?" That would be so much more fun some days! :) But then there are other days that I am so content and at peace with what I am doing. On an average day I have about 50 reasons why I do what I do... and I love each and every one of them by name. Here are a few of the reasons:

1. When Sean greets me with his adorable grin and constant laughter and we chase each other around and around until I tackle him and then we play "high 5" very dramatically. :)

2. When Jack wraps his arms around my neck in the middle of my lecture and plants a kiss on my cheek and says "I 'blove' you!"

3. When Sarah, Angie and Mel fight to give me bigger hugs than the other and hang off my leg while I walk through the school.

4. When Josephina, while sitting quietly beside me in a lecture, reaches up and rubs my chest area , grinning like a chess shire cat the entire time because she just discovered something new :) haha and then I have to tell her to keep her hands to herself, just as Andy is reaching...

5. When the kids crowd around me at the end of the day because they don't want me to leave...

6. When Luke comes bursting in my classroom telling me that he did his homework so he can get his sticker.

7. When Andy tells me that I am beautiful

8. When Andy (a different one) looks up at me over the brim of his adorable glasses and hands me a bar of chocolate on "white day" to show me how special I am to him.

9. When the boys pick a wrestling match with me between classes because they know I will have a blast doing it!

10. And when Sean (yet another one) finally grasps the concept of past, present and future...

If you would have told me 6 months ago that I would be where I am today, I probably wouldn't have believed you. My little bit of prior experience was teaching junior high the Literary components of Pilgrim's Progress and the historical bases of Eastern religions... Now, I am teaching the alphabet and correcting sentences from "I am cafeteria" to "I am in the cafeteria". And yet, I am loving it. Each day I get to touch a life in a very small way- through the spoken word. I am giving these students a chance to do something that they maybe wouldn't have been able to do.

Yes, there are differences in the school structure and how things are run, but all in all, I am having a blast! Robert and I love what we do and are so happy to be doing it together. No, we don't see each other a lot throughout the day but being able to teach "side by side" is a great calling and a gift. I feel privileged to get to do what I love with the man that I love. It's a good life!