Well today I am going to be officially starting to pack up my classroom. Yes, that is right, no more second grade. These past two years in 2nd grade have been such fun. I loved my team even more than I realized I would and even went on a family vacation with one of them! But for now, I must move on. I do hope some day to return.
When I first went on maternity leave I had no idea what was going to happen. I was torn. I knew that teaching was WAY too much with a newborn. I wanted more cuddle time with my baby than from 6-8pm. I just couldn't do it. In three years of teaching I haven't mastered leaving when the kids leave and so I couldn't count on that. Even that would be too much time away from my little munchkin. But how could I stay home?
Brian was working about 20-30 hours at Bose and we were pretty sure that we couldn't swing me staying home on just that. So I prolonged the decision....hoping...and praying...that something would change. I never told anyone I was coming back and I never told anyone I was leaving. I was told to just enjoy my leave and worry about it when the time came. So that is what I did.
Well a funny thing happened....2 weeks after Josiah was born my husband got a full time job as a "software engineer". He decided to keep on 20 hours at Bose to keep benefits. So he was working 60 hours a week (including weekends) with a 40 minute drive Monday-Friday. He was a trooper. He was happy to be providing for our family and we were able to make it on my mostly unpaid maternity leave. It finally seemed possible to imagine that I could really stay home with Josiah.
Even though I know he was exhausted, he never complained. He just picked up and went to work day after day. Unfortunately neither Josiah or myself saw him very much (there's always a catch). We knew this was not forever, only a season, so we just stuck it out.
About 2 weeks ago Brian was told that the website he was working for could only keep him on for 20 hours. This was a blessing in disguise.
Around this time I was checking my school email and saw something about a hospital/home bound teacher. They basically go to the house of kids who cannot go to school either permanently or temporarily. and give them 4 hours of instruction a week (I could do that....). I emailed some people to find out more. After some research I was told that I could not do this. So, I emailed some other people in the district just to make sure. A few days later I got a call from the district offering me a 40% position (15 hours...2 days a week...EXACTLY what I wanted). Really???
After meeting with the people in charge I accepted the position. I am just so excited.
At first I thought I wanted to just stay home full time, but there were some drawbacks to this....first of all, Brian and Josiah weren't getting the time together that they needed. Now, because Brian can pick any 2 days off that he wants, he will be able to have "guy time" with Josiah when I am at work. Secondly, I think we both felt like we were doing it all on our own. Brian was working so hard and supporting our family single handedly and I was taking care of Josiah 24/7. This way we both get a little variety in our week.
So today, with the help of a friend, I am staring to pack up my classroom at Crookshank. A decision has finally been made. I am moving on to a new position. I will miss my 2nd grade team tremendously but hopefully some day when Josiah is older, I will find myself back there.
Praise the Lord for having a perfect plan in mind, far better than I could have imagined.
But for now...how could I leave this little cutie for that long?!?!?
