From "Miss" to "Mom"

(This picture was taken a month ago . . . my stomach is twice that size now)

Friday was the last day of school and my last day of teaching. I feel so lucky and grateful to be able to stay home with our little guy next year! 

The past three years of teaching have been a serious roller coaster. My two years at Taylor have been good ones overall, but any teacher (high school teachers in particular) knows that teaching is a love/hate kind of job. I love all of my students . . . I don't always like them. And I'll be honest, sometimes I may have hated them just a little bit. At my lowest moments I would go home and vent in frustration to Matt--"I'm tired of investing so much time and energy into kids who just don't care! The apathy is killing me!" And then I would get a note from a student (this just happened on Friday) telling me how much they really do care and that they are grateful for me, thanking me for caring so much about them. Ups and downs people!

So, here are a few things I'll miss, a few things I won't miss, and a few things I have learned.

I will miss . . .
- Having an excuse to geek out over things like figurative language for six hours a day (nerd alert).
- The occasional student admitting that what we're learning is actually pretty cool.
- All of the amazing teachers I've been blessed to work with.
- Standing in the hall to welcome current students and say hi to past students as they walk by.

I won't miss . . .
- Telling the boys to pull their pants up, turn their pornographic t-shirts inside out, and fold over their drug socks.
- Excessive eye rolling and dramatic sighs from the girls.
- All of the whining about assignments and classwork. ("Miiiiisssss why you always have us be doin' too much?")
- Grading persuasive essays and "short answer responses." Adios STAAR!!

I have learned . . .
- How to pretend like I have super hearing powers and have heard an entire conversation even if I only caught a couple of words.
- A lot of new words and phrases (including, but not limited to "finna," "turn up," "dip," and "roachin").
- To master my death stare.
- Patience. Still working on this one, but I've gotten better (example: A couple of weeks ago, after a month of reading Fahrenheit 451, someone answered "Julius Caesar" when I asked who the protagonist of the novel was. Patience. Lots of deep breaths.)

On to my new job! Only a couple more months before I'm a full time mom. I can't wait :)