A Time To Grow

As many of you know, I've been struggling with the news that I'm moving with my rising third graders next year, and that my struggle has nothing to do with where I'm going and everything to do with where I've been.

Because moving toward acceptance takes time. 

Getting my heart to catch up with my head takes time.

And finding grace in the grief of letting go takes time.

But of this I'm sure:

For the first fifteen years of my career, I didn't put down any roots.

In fact, I never stayed anywhere more than four years before

shaking things up a bit,

 changing direction

and moving on to something new.

I worked in Wisconsin for my first year out of college,

then moved to Texas and worked at a junior high for a year.

A job opened up for me at Friendswood High School and I stayed there four years before taking a leave of absence to explore Seattle and check out the possibility of becoming a counselor. {What a great place to do that, I know!}

Then I came back to Texas, got married, and taught for four more years at FHS before heading to a neighboring district for a year as a high school counselor. Then we moved to WI for a year and when we got back to Texas, I worked as a counselor at yet another high school for three more years. 

When I felt the pull to leave secondary education, I went for a year to a middle school and the Westwood position opened up. I had a steep learning curve to climb, but it would be worth it to be back home where my own children were now attending school.

I thrived on change.

Change invigorated me.

Change is good and I was good at it.

  

But the last fifteen have been different, because I stayed.

I found something that I really connected with, so

I put down roots that go really, really deep. And wide. 

So it's been a while since I've had to change, and let's face it, change is hard. I know. Please don't email or text those words to me right now. I get it. It's most helpful when people validate how hard it must be to let go. Because I'm working on moving toward acceptance, really I am. I know that it's time to get growing, because if we never change and grow, we'll never have anything new to offer.

I asked a group of firsties in the Counselor Cafe today
what they would do if I left Westwood.
First they gasped, then they said they'd be sad.
After hardly any time at all, Megan said,
We'll do the character you taught us.

So for today, I'm planning the renovations for that sound-proof former band hall where next year we'll be mining the treasures that lie within our superhero middle-grade leaders. Now I just have to decide which sounds better, 

Leadership Lane or The Values Vault.

Let's grow!