So, as some may know who actually pay attention to anything I say, we have moved to Washington. It has been a crazy journey. The hardest part has been leaving my students. I love those kids. I stay in touch with them, but it's definitely not the same and I miss them every day. Part of this blog post is for them, so kids, if you're reading this, thank you, and below you'll get the full story of what brought us here.
I was re-reading my last post and thought I'd re-cap one of the paragraphs for you. It says:
"So...now what? Well, we need to figure a few things out but what we know for sure is that Justin starts December 1st (this is all feeling frighteningly like last year at this time). He found that out on Sunday, so just in time for him to put in his two week notice yesterday. He has this week, next week, and then we are taking a week to spend in Seattle for Thanksgiving and he starts the next week! So basically, we will fly to WA together, and then I will fly back to Vegas while he stays and starts his job. Crazy! So we are figuring out when I can join him and where we're both going to live and all that."
Remember that? Yeah, well, I was wrong. Shortly after posting that, sure that I would be finishing the semester at Schofield no problem, sure that Justin would I would be fine apart for a while, sure that I'd be with my kids at least another two months... I knew I had to go to Washington. It just hit me like a bag of bricks. I remember sitting with Justin, talking about our options, and I said, "I could go with you to Washington..." and I knew. What was funny about that to me is we had never even considered that! I don't know why, looking back...it seems like that would be the first thing you'd think of. But no, I had no intention of leaving until at least the end of the semester so I hadn't even considered it. And then, all the sudden, that's what we were doing. Now, I was freaking out because I had to talk to my principal who isn't exactly the warmest person to approach about this sort of thing, so I scheduled an appointment with her and my supervisor right away. I had all day Wednesday (November 12th) to sit and stew and wait and imagine what she was going to say. Part of my hoped she would tell me I couldn't leave...but then that night I called my ever-so-wise sister in-law Laura who talked me through talking to big-important people. That strengthened my resolve, and Thursday morning I told them my situation. Here's kind of how it went:
Me: "My husband got a new job up in Seattle. We have to move next week."
Principal: "So...are you resigning?"
Resigning....I had never considered that word until she said it.
Me: "Yup...I guess so."
I put in my last date as November 21st...the following Friday.
My heart was heavy from that point on. Teaching felt like a big fat lie. I was loving my time with my kids, chatting it up with them as I usually do, and in the back of my mind thinking, "They have no idea that one week from now I'll be leaving, and two weeks from now I'll be gone..." My plan was to postpone the news from them as long as possible. Justin disagreed: he thought I should tell them right away. I didn't know what to do! I wanted our time to be as happy as possible for as long as possible, but they deserved to know too. Plus, I was FREAKING OUT because somehow the word got out to all the teachers and the news was spreading like wildfire and I was terrified that one of them would be so careless as to slip it to one of the kids before I told them. So the following Tuesday I broke the news. 1st period was basically a cry-fest for the first half-hour. Oh my gosh...thinking about it makes me cry!
Now, here's the deal. Most of you are reading this going: "What the heck is wrong with her? Get over it already!" Well, for those of you who fit this bill, I'm sorry. It's impossible to explain. But to my kids who are reading this...you totally get it. I never thought that when I became a teacher I would love my kids: not only love teaching and love science, but love my kids! Love them more than I thought I was allowed to! And that is true for me and these kids! I love them like I love my siblings. In fact, for many of them I would take them over some of my siblings (ha... sorry siblings. Most of you aren't even reading this anyway, so...there you go). I am only 8 years older than them. It was the craziest thing because they all respected me like a teacher, but they loved me like they love a sibling too! It was just a crazy-awesome situation! And now I had to say good-bye? It was horrible, and what made it worse was I couldn't really tell them the full story. I couldn't say, "Well, kids, God has a plan for me in Washington and I'm moving because I'm following the spirit." Huh? Yeah, that wouldn't fly. So I explained that financially it didn't make sense for both me and my husband to pay separate rents. That didn't fly with the kids. They were like, "You can live at my house! We have a spare room!" and "My parents manage apartments: you can stay there for free!" and "We'll do a fund raiser so you don't have to leave!" and my favorite, "My mom is looking for a roommate!" Oh my word...the list goes on and on. So for some I explained that it's not only about money but about priorities. This decision is about putting God first, my family second, and everything else third. This was hard for me because these kids were my family in Vegas. We didn't have family there with us and they became my family. I love them like I love my family! So the whole priority of putting my family second felt skewed because my kids feel like my family. Notice I call them my kids instead of my students...probably unprofessional, but, whatever deal with it.
So of all the things I've made choices with, of all the times I've stood up for what I believe in and been hurt for it, this is officially the hardest decision I've ever made. The news of me leaving had basically spread to the whole school between 1st and 2nd passing periods. I would pretty much adopt any and every kid in my 2nd period class, so when I had to break the news to them it was pretty bad...again. I got the same replies from them that I got from my 1st period class. Stuff like, "You can teach us from Seattle! Over Skype! Like Ned's Desclassified!" and "We have a spare bedroom; I'm pretty sure my dad would be okay with it..." More tears. It was a long day, to say the least (which I never do, lesbehonest). 6th period had some favorite quotes of mine: "Miss, don't leave! I'm moving back to my old school if you leave!" and "You're leaving? I give up." I couldn't help but laugh.
The rest of the week was a blur. I took tons of pictures, I taught the best way I know how for two last days, and Friday we had our last day. I can't even put into words the love I have for these 13-and-14 year-old kids. They are truly amazing people, far beyond their years in intelligence, maturity, and character. I received outpourings of love from nearly all of them. Each class period could bring treats to share if they wanted. I had quite the system of getting all that food consumed, let me tell you, but overall it was a great last day. Thankfully, I was still in denial about leaving so I actually didn't cry. I was all smiles and my happy self: I owed that to them for my last day, right? I shared field trip stories with them and we basically partied all day. After school I locked myself in my room for a few minutes to debrief the new teacher - oh yeah: she was observing me all day. With all the gifts, cards, letters, and the like ... well let's just say I wouldn't want to be the one to try to fill my shoes. #awky
After school about 50 kids showed up for final good byes and probably 20 stayed to help me clean out my room. I had to be OUT of there by 4:00 because we HAD to pick up our moving truck by 5:00 because the truck place closed at 5:00 and we were scheduled to LEAVE Saturday morning! Oh my word...I felt robbed because I wanted to take each kid, one by one, and say good bye to them. But with the other teacher hanging around trying to get acquainted with everything and me trying to move out and everyone trying to help me...yeah I felt robbed. And terribly sad. But also extremely grateful.
When I got home, I intended to wait to read the letters my kids wrote me. But I broke into them, and I was totally overwhelmed! I won't share the details of the hardships some of these kids are facing, but with everything they're going through, they told me that science class was what helped them press forward. In other words, my dream of changing the life of a student came true.
No one will ever replace these kids. I fully intend on flying down to Vegas a couple times between now and the end of the school year to visit. Like I said, unless you're me or my kids (or possibly Justin) that will seem absolutely ridiculous but, to my kids...I love you guys more than I can say. Thank you for being an incredible part of my life!
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| my kids burned their initials in a newspaper using a convex lens. woot! |
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| one of my students made me origami for a goodbye gift...these are on my Christmas tree now! |
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| my kids put their names on my field trip pictures and I wrote them a message on the back and mailed it to them. |
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| 3rd period |
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| 1st period!! |
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| David knows me well! Chocolate milk for a goodbye gift! |
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| cards and letters galore! There was a box filled with gifts that I forgot to take a picture of... |
All Friday night we packed, moved our belongings into boxes, and moved them into the moving truck. We cleaned, we slept, and Saturday morning the apartment was ready to vacate by 8:00 AM. Unfortunately, we had to wait around for a package which wasn't delivered until 2:00 (we're not going to go into the details of that drama...). At 2:30 we were pulling out, truck fully loaded, car towed behind us, on our way to Sacramento! Yeah right...Sacramento is 8 hours away driving a regular car. We made the mistake of booking a B&B beforehand and we knew there was no way we'd make it all the way to Sacramento. It's a shame because I was looking forward to the "Africa plains" themed room. We got to BAKERSFIELD: a measley 300 miles away from Vegas by 9:00 PM. Yeah, with that math that meant we were going 50 mph! It was pretty awful. The weather was crazy with wind gusts and crazy rain. In Bakersfield we stayed at a hotel that had a jaccuzi in the room which was pretty cool.
Sunday we totally killed it driving-wise. We drove from Bakersfield to Portland! 856 miles! We drove from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM. It was crazy. We listened to Mockingjay audiobook which saved us. Plus I was rocking out to "Blank Space" every hour on the hour. Some of you may have seen the rendition I sang to my students on my last day. Yeah, it was pretty sweet! We stayed at Justin's uncle's house in Portland that night.
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| buh-bye blue skies... |
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| my neck hurt for a week after this... |
Monday we finally pulled into Puyallup at 9:00 AM! We cleaned up at Justin's brother's house and then went apartment shopping. Here's the great story there. We checked out apartments all day, and ALL DAY they told us, "We're full." Everywhere was full! Until at least the end of the year! What the heck? In Vegas everyone's like, "Live here! We have room!" We were surprised that everywhere we looked there was literally NO ROOM. We finally settled on an apartment about 15 minutes away from Jon and Laura that we'd be able to move into mid-December. We drove to the bank around 4:30 to get a cashier's check to pay the application fees. As we were driving away from the bank, I saw another apartment complex across the street. I noticed the cute lights and yellow siding that was so bright and cheery against the dreary rain. I mentioned it to Justin to which he replied: "I'm tired: let's just stick with what we got." I agreed...but I couldn't shake the feeling. So we turned around and guess what? They had all kinds of openings: one bedroom, two, three...first floor, second, third...whatever you wanted!! We drove across the street back to the bank (they were like...seriously? You're chaning apartments that fast? Ha!) made out a new cashier's check for Willow Springs apartments, and turned it in! We came back the next day (Tuesday) and finished all the paper work. Wednesday morning we moved in! Ha!!!! It was CRAZY AWESOME! Totally giving Heavenly Father all the credit for the past couple weeks. After making the decision to move the two of us, we were able to 1.) successfully move out of our old apartment, 2.) drive safely the 1,300 miles to our new home, 3.) FIND a new home the very same day we arrived and 4.) move in with everything spik-and-span in time for Thanksgiving! Seriously? That doesn't just happen. Miracles are real! I've seen two in my life in the past year that have been life-changing! Amazing!
So for Thanksgiving we got together with the Hunters and the Roses. David made a fried turkey and Judy baked hers. We successfully devoured them both. I made stuffing which was a hit and fun times were had by all. We ended up buying a T.V. for our new apartment with the amazing deals and the rest of the week we played a lot of games and ate a lot of food. That was basically our Thanksgiving!
This week had been the week of adjustments. Justin started work on Monday. In Vegas his job was 2 minutes down the road and he got off at 3:30 every day. Now his work is 30 minutes away and he gets home at 6:00 every night. Gag me. It's not like I'm teaching every day so I just chill until he's home. I am here in this apartment every day all day! It's been interesting...I've been crocheting. That's pretty much my answer for everything. People are like, "Oh you're new? What do you do?" Ahem... I am a domestic goddess that crochets all day; that's what I do. I'm working on the Washington license thing but that takes time and so I've been crafting it up. Oh, and Netflix...lots of Netflix. Justin and I do get up every morning to exercise at the YMCA down the road so I'm not a complete waste of human flesh.
That is pretty much the past month. I'm loving the weather here: it actually FEELS like Christmas. This is the best time of the year and we're so blessed to be surrounded by Justin's family who is so excited that we are here! They are just as dumb-struck as we are! Everyone's baffled but we're also really happy. Judy took me out to lunch the other day and Justin got to play racquetball with Jon. Tomorrow we are all getting together to celebrate Joe's birthday. That's all for now!
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| My handsome man! And his fighter jet Christmas cookie! |
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| That face...I don't even know! |
Welcome to WA!! (I grew up with the Rose kids). That is so nice to live by family. And Washington is awesome! That stinks to leave teaching though. Been there but I left for a baby. Good luck with the new job and new house!
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