MOVING ON

 

 It seems like I've always worked. 

I started out as a babysitter at age 12 for "fun money".  I earned a lot of fun money during my junior high and high school years. I babysat almost every weekend during the school year and every Saturday evening the summer before college. I made good money and learned all about how to care for babies, toddlers, preschoolers. Plus I had 3 younger sisters that I was always helping mom with, especially because I was 15 when my youngest sister was born.  That next summer, Mom paid me to be the full time babysitter for my baby sister so she could go back to work. My parents had very strong  work ethics and were also very active in our Methodist church. 

 Then college came and all that goes with it...including a part time work study job for those 4 years plus summer jobs: factory work, nanny work, office work, fast food work. Then the 3 years of working as a permanent high school  music teacher sub and then an  elementary ed sub, plus teaching in a private piano studio, and then  another nanny job along with a restaurant/waitressing job plus a retail job,  and then a daycare teacher job along with teaching piano in a private studio which required traveling 3 towns west of where I was living. 

 Then......grad school. 

and that is when my real purpose for teaching came about: grad school showed me....along with the plans God has had for my life....that I was to be a Special Education PreKindergarten teacher. I was blessed to win a spot in the 30 openings for a Research Foundation Fellowship.  I was an intern for 40 weeks teaching special needs preschoolers followed by special needs  adults on top of going to  classes and writing thesis Monday-Thursday. Weekends were spent researching and writing papers. So.much.writing. So many psychology terms. So many special education terms to learn and demonstrate knowledge of. And finally.......4 job offers before even being permanently certified. Finally:  the Master of Science degree in Educational Psychology/Special Education and the NYS Permanent Certification birth-geriatric.  And I went from full time graduate work/research into full time Master teaching at a private not for profit prek agency.  I had 10 amazing students and one teacher assistant. A wonderful team of 2 speech therapists, an OT, PT, and a psychologist.  Also, we had access to a very dedicated social worker. Our  direct boss was just over the top awesome. I was in heaven. 

I thanked God every day walking across that parking lot and into the school for nine years. I loved that master teaching job. Until my oldest turned 2 and I wanted her out of daycare. the daycare was on the same campus as the special education classrooms but.....I wanted to be the one to see her take her first step, and take her to the lakes in the summer (preK special ed contract had us teaching summer school for 6 weeks) and be the one to hear her read her first book (age 4!). 

So I made the very difficult decision (and sometimes I look back and regret the choice and other times I am happy I made it......thanking God that He was with me every step of the way) to be a stay at home mom and just run a weekly playgroup.  I also started teaching private piano again.  That lasted for 3 years and then I decided it was too much on top of managing my own  child and  and managing the house. Dave traveled a lot out of state and out of the country, when Courtney  was very young, for his job.  

Life was moving on. 

It reminded me of the lyrics to one of my all time fave groups (ABBA) and their song "Move On".  (the you tube video is above...give it a listen if you aren't familiar with them......that's music from MY era, people!):

"Like a wind that's always blowing, life is flowing, move on

        Like the sunrise in the morning, life is dawning move on

How I treasure every minute being part of it, being in it with the urge to move on. " 

I loved my time at home with my oldest.....from age 2-5. I "worked" (volunteered) as a Sunday School teacher, was on the music ministry team playing keyboard and singing female lead vocals weekly, plus had music team practice weekly. We were also small group leaders for about 10 people. Ou home life was busy as was our church life. All of these activities were fine, but my heart missed special education pre-k teaching. 

 And then our oldest daughter's  little sister was born. 8 months later, I moved on.....to teaching adults who were mandated by the family court system to take parenting/child development  classes. This was a volunteer job that I was monetarily compensated for and was given parking fee money for. I did this for 5 years....and then...time to move on.  I was ok with that chapter of my life closing. We were moving on as a family out of a  church that wasn't doing well for us spiritually or personally and moving into a much larger church in our  community where we could grow emotionally, personally and spiritually. And I took a year off to volunteer in my youngest daughter's 2nd grade classroom. Life was certainly flowing and moving on.......I was asked to return to the crisis center where I was doing parenting skills classes but I declined. It was time to move on........

Instead, I accepted a temporary full time position as assistant teacher in a very posh private preschool for wealthy families in a city to the east of us. I was filling in for someone who was on a one year medical leave. I enjoyed this preK job.....my hours were nice as I was home every day by 2:30 pm.....when it ended in June of 2007, they did invite me to stay and be a full time el ed teacher (no certification necessary) but I declined.  My heart missed special education. 

and then I saw a part time job that was interesting to me because it was in my daughters' school district where we lived.....and it was morning hours which meant I'd be home when they got off the bus.It was for a 1:1 aide with a specific kindergarten child.  By now my oldest was in junior high school and extremely busy with academics, youth group, volunteering at church, equestrian lessons, violin and orchestra, school  chorus, musicals. The youngest was just as busy with academics, Awana Club, ballet, tap, lyrical classes, violin, orchestra, chorus, and 3 musicals a year plus the school grade musicals, and a dance show every year plus special Christmas ballet performances. Life was indeed flowing......moving on.....and i embraced every moment...or tried to. 

It was a busy but oh so wonderful season.

And then the 1:1 job ended and they offered me a part time program aide job in the same kindergarten so I said yes. I went  from part time to full time 3 years later and from fun to not so great. School politics, inept or ineffective  administrators, and special education practices that I didn't want to embrace nor even really believe in doing. I had lasted 7 years.  It was time to move on. 

So I quit. I felt free.....but a little lost. If that makes sense.  Public school as a program aide was just not for me, especially with the admin changes, the weird school politics, and some special education practices that I just didn't agree with as a professional. 

I took a semester off.  I repainted my kitchen. My oldest was by now out of college and working part time while looking for a full time job.  She found one that winter. I found one by the end of that semester. It was a 1:1 aide position with a private not for profit preK agency very similar to the school where I started my special education career. I accepted the job. It quickly (after just 3 months) transformed into an assistant teacher position because someone in the classroom was leaving. I was offered the job, accepted it, and stayed for 5 years.

I just retired from this job.  What a fun place to end and how full circle did I come.  From being a master teacher with 10 amazing special education students ages 3-5, to being an assistant with 13 special education students ages 3-5.  How I will treasure the memories made. 

Time moves quickly like the ocean waves that crash and the dawning of the sun........

and I do feel the urge to move on. My physical body says it's time to slow down. That is the main reason I've retired at the age of 63. It's hard getting up and down off the floor with little ones.  It's hard to lift them and to carry them if needed. My knees ache, my neck aches, and  although my heart still longs to teach, my body knows it's time to move on. 

Life pulses for me though.  It seems to bring me to new things every few years. I can't wait to see what is going to happen this autumn...what changes I face.   I've already reached out to a non-profit that helps refugees coming into the area. I'd like to volunteer my time with them. I'm open to just about anything involving social justice, refugees, the homeless shelters, food banks, etc.  Most of all, I want to love God with all of my heart, soul, and mind. I want to love my neighbor as my self. I want to do what God has planned for me. 

"Like a roller in the ocean, life is motion, move on

like a wind that's always blowing, life is flowing, move on....how I treasure every minute, being part of it, being in it, with the urge to move on......" 

Although my life is slowing down, it's also moving on........