Once upon a trip to Philadelphia

Although it has only been a couple of weeks since I wrapped up my very first week as a newly employed woman and traveled to Philadelphia to visit my good friend Britt, time and circumstances have far removed that trip from my immediate memory.   It was fun and refreshing but if feels like it happened a lifetime ago.  

One of my most vivid memories of the trip is sitting alone on a packed Delta airplane, with a row all to myself and my journal out.   After having spent the week prior to my flight being introduced to my new role as a special education science teacher, I had a lot on my mind.  I can still feel my body relaxing when I realized that the cabin doors had been closed and the possibility of a stranger sitting beside me had been eliminated.   I remember smiling to myself and offering a prayer of thankfulness to the Lord for giving me the chance to rest despite the unrest in my schedule.   With my favorite purple pen in hand, this is what I wrote:


I just lived through my very first week at my very first job post-college & grad school!  All 6 years of my University career were for the purpose of being able to do exactly what I am doing now.   Even without any direct contact with my students, I am already starting to see a bigger picture of how purposeful the Lord has been with all of this. 

Having spent 2 semesters at my school prior to being employed  is nothing short of an irreplaceable gift.  In addition to knowing where the bathroom, teachers lounge and stairways are, I have these amazing relationships already built.  It's not hard to see the abundant blessing and prosperity in the way God designed the establishment of my career, but until this week I honestly didn't recognize how faithfully God orchestrated these details on my behalf.  

People know me, they like me and they trust my ability to teach.  My transition from learner to teacher has been a welcomed one.  Only a few years ago I was desperatly trying to get into a Speech-Language Pathology program, totally unaware of how much my communication styles, interpersonal strengths and professional goals align with the public school system.  I have the opportunity to be friendly, open, affirming and grounded every time I rub shoulders with someone in the bathroom or wait in line for the copy machine.  I get to affirm my co-workers skills and experience simply by asking about their day, week or teaching career.   I get to share and establish respect by choosing to be positive and by acknowledging other people in the process.

I didn't go into teaching to develop a strong cohort of fellow teachers, I went into it for the opportunity to love a kid that maybe no one else would.  I became a teacher because I beleive that for many kids, learning is too painful to do unless someone is there to gently lead them through the pain.  I love kids who are naughty because I get to model different forms of behavior and look for the real reason for the behaviors.   I love kids who don't know how to learn because it means that I have the potential to unlock learning in a new accessible and relevant way.  I love kids who know how to learn but hate doing it because it's really, really hard.  I am that kid. 

All week long I have been told by various teachers that they are glad I am here.  I have also been warned that their kids are really hard.  I'm glad I'm here too and I'm glad there kids are hard.  This job is worth doing, which makes it worthy of the 6 years of challenging learning I fought through to get here.  

The school year ahead of me is undeniably tough, but let the record show that I am so grateful to be where I am.