This Time of Year

As I sit in the living room drinking my coffee and playing with Avery, I hear the rumble of the school buses drive by and it signals the start of another school year.  This past year has been so different for me.  No cleaning and setting up a classroom, no back-to-school meetings and meet the teacher nights, no seating charts and lesson plans, no butterflies in my stomach that first day of school (yes, teachers get those too) and going home exhausted but excited each night.  It all still feels a little surreal, like I have something big to do but I just keep forgetting to do it.  It's amazing how much my life has changed in one short year!

One of the most common questions I get these days is "Are you going back to work?"  And although I never say it and I know exactly what they mean, I think to myself "I do work, and it's one tough job."  But I realize they mean will I go back to teaching.  I miss teaching greatly but Eric and I are just starting out our family and I have a bigger, more important job to do right now.  Not that teaching isn't important, but this job, my job as mommy, is one of the most important jobs I will ever do in my life.  

So will I ever go back to teaching?  The short answer, yes!  I can't imagine never teaching again.  It became a part of who I am and I loved it.  The long answer, we would like to have two children, and if everything works out as we would like, I will return when the youngest enters kindergarten.  

Teaching is one of the most rewarding jobs a person can do, you not only feel like you make a difference, but you know you do.  And although I loved my job as a teacher, I love my new job so much more and find it more rewarding and fulfilling then I could have imagined.  It's a job of tickles and raspberries, hugs and kisses, cuddles and kissing boo-boos, feeding and baths, storybooks and songs, cleaning and cooking, play-dates and errands, peek-a-boo and horsy rides, I could go on and on.  But most importantly, I am still a teacher, I am the most important teacher in one little girl's life!

Teaching is a job that I can always return to (or leave if need be) but being a mother is the job I will do everyday for the rest of my life.  

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