Bittersweet day.

Today is the day that tons of my friends sent their kiddos off to school and many of my friends are starting back to work as teachers and administrators. I have been nervous about this day for the past few weeks.

The bitter: I left my career in PR after just a few short years to go back to graduate school.  It was a great decision because I knew that education was where I wanted to be, however, I never thought that I would struggle so much to find a job!  After I was most of the way through the program I started looking for a job, in the mean time I had a great part-time job at a church, but needed full-time employment at a school.  After 2 years of calls/campus drop-bys/ resumes/interviews/networking I finally found a position in November of 2010 in Irving.  I loved that job so much (I got it through the stimulus money BTW...)  However, I found out after the year was over that my teaching certificate didn't go "standard" after a partial year teaching.  (It's complicated, but I'm still not a fully certified teacher!)  So anyway, I got preggo and would have been laid off anyway, so I stepped down and we moved to Austin.  I only got to teach for 7 months!  And when I got back I have to explain my whole story about why I have taught for a year, but I'm still on a probationary cert.  Boo.

The SWEET (and it is very sweet): I have my little man!  He brightens my days everyday and is just the biggest light in my life.  Being a mom has been so rewarding and I get to see the fruits of my labor every day when Kai smiles, laughs, stuffs his face with yogurt puffs, learns something, or gives me a sweet baby hug. I also get to spend quality time with my hubby.  I know that I would be grading/creating after I get home from school, because teachers work so hard these days!  So now when Scott comes home, we get to have family time and then even relax or do projects around the house after the little dude goes to bed.  My being at home is a sweet time for our family.

Even though I'm taking some time to be home with and I get a little lonely or feel like I went to graduate school (at an expensive institution) for nothing... I try to remember that I have plenty of years to influence the brains of the youngsters of tomorrow in due time.  I could potentially teach for 30 years after I go back into the workforce!! That is a lot of years!  One step at a time.  Right now my steps are with my little boy.