This may be it this week. I’ve been nagging myself to post, but we’ve opened the shop an hour earlier this week, and with The Boy home for vacation, my routine is so funky, I’m all messed up. So rather than stress, I thought I’d write a simple post to wish you all the happiness of the season.
My family is my heart and my happiness, and this week in particular, they are my focus.
Love you all to bits!
My boys and the beach
I have to say that I am really enjoying my new job. And it’s been since about 2007 since I could say that.
It’s a great feeling.
For many, many reasons, teaching became less and less enjoyable over the years to the point that I would cry on the way to work in the mornings because I really just didn’t want to go. Might sound juvenile, but it’s a pretty desparate feeling, especially when you are a single mom and have to provide for your son. There is no opt out, there is no quitting to try to find something more enjoyable. And teachers really don’t have that luxury like some other professionals do. They don’t have the possibility of quitting and making the same pay in a lateral move, which is absolutely ridiculous, but I digress.
And it hasn’t been easy being unemployed for half a year, either. I wouldn’t recommend it for the weak of heart. Your self esteem takes quite a few dings.
But opportunity arose when The Man bought this house outright, and I had to take it. I didn’t want to be miserable anymore. Today, I’m so glad I did, and I’m so thankful for my new job that I enjoy. I feel capable and trusted, appreciated and challenged. I’ve been waiting a long time to feel like this again.
Have a great day, People! 😀
You know the saying about there being a fine line between bravery and stupidity?
Increasingly, I have been getting “the look” from people I know and work with. The look that says the person can’t quite tell which one I am, brave or stupid. This “idea” of giving it all up and moving south. “Is she really gonna do it?” is what that look says. Mostly it’s people who don’t know me too well, because the people who know me well also know it isn’t an “idea” — it’s a reality.
I can understand the look. I can understand the thought process behind it. But the truth is, my parents prepped me for big moments like this the entire time I was growing up. Education, education, education was the key to independence, independence, independence. For a long, long time, I assumed it was freedom from depending on someone else. But it isn’t just independence from other people. It’s also independence as my own person. Independence from a job, career path, lifestyle, society, thought, etc. The ability to think for myself and know myself enough to know when to walk away. To walk toward something simpler, easier, more satisfying. Toward a smaller pile of money, sure, but much more happiness. And not just for me, but for my boy, too.
And it’s not all that easy. Some things will be infinitely harder down there. But there will be love. Lots of love. And I guess I never quite stopped believing that love is enough, especially now that I know what true love feels like.
The most interesting part about “the look”? Mixed in with all of the incredulity, disbelief, and sizing up?
There’s more than a little jealousy in there, too.
Simple. I Just Do. 