The First Day of the Rest of My Life
As unbelievably tired as I am right now, I know that this is a moment in my life that I must not let pass without some type of acknowledgment and reflection.
Just a few hours ago I completed my first class as professional, paid Religious Education teacher. For me, this is a huge deal and it has been a long time in the making. From my days as a counselor at summer camps to my winters and springs spent tutoring high school students, being a teacher was a hidden desire that satisfied itself in sneaky ways, never really surfacing proudly as a career option.
It wasn’t until the summer of 2006, as I sat on a plane ride to Atlanta preparing to deliver my first leadership training session to a group of high-school-aged camp counselors, that I really allowed myself to entertain the possibility. I remember telling the woman in the seat next to me “If I nail this training, I’m going to chase this secret dream of mine.”
And sure enough not 48 hours later, back on a plane ride home and coincidentally sitting next to the very same woman as before, I vocalized my ambitions of being an educator.
4 years, 2 degrees, and a ton of sweat later, I am literally living my dream. And while today was not a breeze, it certainly a rite of passage that every teacher must survive: her first day. It is a moment that will never return…the uncertainty and naivety and the sense of performance anxiety is never quite as acute or as warranted as it was today. And now, with tonight behind me, I have officially begun a subconscious catalog of experiences that I will use to inform every day moving forward: aka, it only gets better from here.
As SA so astutely pointed out, 9/15/2008 was one huge step in life. 9/15/2010 is yet another turning point in this ever-fruitful life of mine. So, so thankful :)
