Ebbing and Flowing for 26 Years
Today I am grateful for the early morning quiet and the beauty of a sunrise. I am also grateful for good food and group prayer.
This week I wrapped up the 26th year I've worked in education. I have gotten used to the ebb and flow of school years just like I roll with the changing seasons. I spent the first 10 of these 26 years as a high school social studies teacher in three different schools in Iowa, my home state.
In my 10th year of teaching, I was into my Master's program for Guidance and Counseling and the serious health issues of a colleague led to that year including both teaching and counseling for me. That was also the year I met Darcy. When we married and I moved to Sioux Falls, I found a job in the Catholic schools system there. I served two K-6 elementary buildings for two years. I knew I had made the right decision to go into school counseling. I was never a confident teacher really, though it got better over the 10 years I taught. I am more comfortable and confident in the counseling role. It is more my natural niche.
When we decided to move to Minnesota, I found a job at another Catholic school and have been there for 14 years now. I didn't set out to work in Catholic schools, and my teaching years were all in public schools, but that is just the way it has worked out. Certainly there are differences between public and private schools, but that is for another discussion. There are also many similarities and wherever there are hundreds of students gathered, some of the rewards and challenges will be the same.
School years start fresh in August and end not-so-fresh in May or June. The pace ebbs and flows throughout the year, with grading periods, holiday breaks, special events and state tournaments. No two days tend to be alike in the counseling office. I both appreciate that and find it exhausting at times. But the ebb and flow of the school year is comfortable for me. It has been there for me consistently over 26 years, even when other big changes were happening in my personal life. There's comfort in what our experience shows us and what we come to know. The summer stretches ahead of us now, but I know, from that experience, that it will go quickly and be busy with many things. All the more reason to stay present in this day, this moment.
Today I will appreciate the ebb and flow of life.
This week I wrapped up the 26th year I've worked in education. I have gotten used to the ebb and flow of school years just like I roll with the changing seasons. I spent the first 10 of these 26 years as a high school social studies teacher in three different schools in Iowa, my home state.
In my 10th year of teaching, I was into my Master's program for Guidance and Counseling and the serious health issues of a colleague led to that year including both teaching and counseling for me. That was also the year I met Darcy. When we married and I moved to Sioux Falls, I found a job in the Catholic schools system there. I served two K-6 elementary buildings for two years. I knew I had made the right decision to go into school counseling. I was never a confident teacher really, though it got better over the 10 years I taught. I am more comfortable and confident in the counseling role. It is more my natural niche.
When we decided to move to Minnesota, I found a job at another Catholic school and have been there for 14 years now. I didn't set out to work in Catholic schools, and my teaching years were all in public schools, but that is just the way it has worked out. Certainly there are differences between public and private schools, but that is for another discussion. There are also many similarities and wherever there are hundreds of students gathered, some of the rewards and challenges will be the same.
School years start fresh in August and end not-so-fresh in May or June. The pace ebbs and flows throughout the year, with grading periods, holiday breaks, special events and state tournaments. No two days tend to be alike in the counseling office. I both appreciate that and find it exhausting at times. But the ebb and flow of the school year is comfortable for me. It has been there for me consistently over 26 years, even when other big changes were happening in my personal life. There's comfort in what our experience shows us and what we come to know. The summer stretches ahead of us now, but I know, from that experience, that it will go quickly and be busy with many things. All the more reason to stay present in this day, this moment.
Today I will appreciate the ebb and flow of life.
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