The ball drops. It bounces halfheartedly in an attempt to guilt the faltering hands that juggle the remaining balls, balls that are moving so fast they are a liquid blur in the air, to reach for it and scoop it back up again.
It does not work. The ball rolls dejectedly towards and then under a dark and solid piece of nondescript furniture in the corner of the room. There it settles, collecting dust in the dim shadows. All but forgotten.
I have dropped that ball, that blogging ball, that even now whispers to me, its throat dry and parched from lack of language and attention. It has been three weeks since my last post and oh so much has happened.
We are moving back to Phoenix.
and
I got a teaching job!
It all started over spring break. Every year we fly down to Tucson and spend time with family and friends. Every year when we board the plane to head home we feel like we are in actuality leaving home. Husband and I have had the “should we move back” conversation for about seven years now. This time, this conversational go around, it was different, more detailed.
When we got back from our visit, I did a random search and discovered that there was a job fair taking place in Phoenix in about a weeks time. We looked at each other, cashed in all our frequent flyer miles, and nervously smiled. Lets just see what happens…Why not…We are not getting any younger..
So I flew out alone on Friday and attended the job fair on Saturday. I had prepared, researching the districts I wanted to talk to, writing a page or more of notes for each one on my yellow legal notepad along with questions to ask them. Then I memorized those pages and quizzed myself until I could keep all the information straight.
Two hours into the job fair, with three interviews behind me, I was offered a letter of intent. It was not just for any job, for it was in a district I had targeted and at a grade level I coveted.
I took it.
I will be a second grade teacher in Phoenix, AZ this coming school year and I can’t be more excited about it. I clicked with the principal and even got a personal tour of the school after the job fair.
Now for the sticking point(s): We have a house to sell, a house and a life to pack up and move. We need to find a place to live, a school for our kids to attend (if they don’t go to mine), and then there is the ever crucial medical piece most specifically for Cody. Husband has contacts and still has his current job but he needs to find one in Arizona. The list goes on. And the first day of school for me, a new hire, is July 16th. The students arrive July 30th.
No pressure.
And so the ball has been dropped, that blogging ball that I have so lovingly kept a soar for all these years. I am not sure I can pick it up again, juggle it again, in any relative form of consistency.
We are moving, I have a job, and life is good. I will blog from time to time amidst the boxes and flutter of chaos. I can’t wait to share with you my classroom, my very first classroom. It is mind blowing to me that I have made it. I am a teacher, if only on paper for now, with my own classroom.
As I sat in the plane heading home I peered out the window at the mosaic landscape of housing developments that makes up Phoenix and the surrounding area. I could not stop thinking that down there, somewhere in that population, were twenty-five or so children that will soon be my very first students.
Shoes On The Wrong Feet 
Congratulations! How exciting for you! It is nerve wracking, I am sure you will question what you have done at some point, you will go crazy with the logistics, and it will be the best thing you have ever done.
Good luck with it all!
Thank you! It is very exciting while at the same time making me a nervous wreck. We will make it there and it will be great!
Wow – so much fabulous and exciting news! Congratulations!! And breathe…it’s an awful lot to take care of within a very compressed period of time. I’ll miss reading your posts, but look forward to the times when you do – and most importantly will enjoy thinking about your family’s new adventure!
Thanks. It is quite a bit to take it. I am trying to only look at it in bits and pieces – break it down into manageable pieces. My blogging will just have to be less often and rather sporadic.
So Exciting! And, a relief, to tell the truth…I was going through stuff yesterday and thought,”Haven’t heard from Mama Shoes lately…Hope she’s just busy!” And here you are now, with Good News!
Congrats!
Sorry to worry you, my friend. I know what you mean about bloggers going silent and causing worry. I am fine, just very busy. I will be around from time to time as I pack up and prepare for this new adventure life has for me and my family.
Congratulation! Your life is really galloping writ now! Take care and enjoy it!:)
It sure is! Thank you, I will enjoy the ride.
I am so thrilled for you–all the hard work has paid off royally. Good luck with everything you have to do to get ready but this is so exciting. Congrats!
It is great to be nearing the end of what has been a very long year and a half. While life will not get less busier, it will become so much more rewarding. I am looking forward to the changes and the challenges (and the warmth of the desert and the closeness to family and friends too!)
How exciting!! Good for you. 🙂 You will never regret going where your heart is.
As you may have noticed, I haven’t blogged in forever. No real exciting excuse either. Just the four kids and all their stuff. Blog when you can! I look forward to hearing how you settle in with your new job and town.
Sometimes life consumes and activities such as blogging, as fun as they are, get put aside. I will try to post from time to time about our adventures for I am sure they will be great ones.
And your comment about never regretting going where your heart is, it is so very, very true! Thank you.
Congratulations! You are so brave and I love no make that I adore your last thought… I could not stop thinking that down there, somewhere in that population, were twenty-five or so children that will soon be my very first students ❤
Thank you! I can’t stop thinking about what my classroom will look like and who those first children will be that I will get the privilege to teach. Exciting and scary all at once!
I am so thrilled to hear that another teacher has been born into the world, and I’m especially happy it’s you. I only know you from the blogosphere, but trust me, I can tell. You are just what those kids need.
Good luck with all the upcoming changes. I hope you can find ways to enjoy the letting go and starting new parts of moving, amidst all the chaos and transition of it. Makes me want to invent some “moving” rituals.
Second grade is the BEST. I taught 2/3 and mentored student teachers at that grade for five golden years. Now I have a second grader myself and his teacher generously lets me come in once a week to teach Writers’ Workshop. I hope you do keep in touch.
And remember, all those balls you drop? They’ll still be there, YEARS from now. They dust off pretty easy, too.
In all honesty, your comment actually made me cry. Thank you for your kind and supportive words. I, like I imagine most first year teachers, have loads of self doubt about my abilities to teach, to stay organized, and keep all the balls in the air at once. Your last paragraph means a lot to me.
All my student teaching has been in first grade so at least I will have a solid idea of where most of them will be at the beginning of the year. I am looking forward to having a room all of my own and creating within it a community of learners. I love Writers’ Workshop, by the way.
I will live the adventure and hope to write about it from time to time. I so enjoy writing but by the end of the day I find myself so lacking in energy, that it becomes a chore. A chore is not something I want my blogging to be…
Oh wow! That is so fantastic! Congratulations! I too have dropped the blogging ball lately. It has been a month and a half since my last post. Other writing has taken up my time, so I justify that it is OK to neglect my little piece of the Internet. I wish you all the best in this adventure! You deserve it!
Thank you. We are all very much looking forward to this new adventure. Although the heavy truth to moving is starting to catch up to the boys as evident in Cody’s comment the other day. He told us that he is happy and sad that we are moving. I am a little bit of both too.
That sounds truly exciting ! New beginnings and new people. I always associate new starts with the smell of fresh paint. Whenever we moved, the new apartment would’ve been freshly painted and so the smell of paint even now brings a whiff of nostalgia. All the very best to you dear Shoes. I know you’ll dig out that ball some time and then we’ll meet over your beautiful words.
Ah the smell of fresh paint is a wonderful thing. New beginnings. I hope to still blog from time to time but I will no longer kid myself into believing that I can keep up with my past blogging efforts.
Congratulations one hundred times over! Your excitement is palpable and it jumps off the page – so great to witness a dream coming true! When you manage to find time to write in the coming weeks and months know we will be here, waiting to hear all about your amazing journey!
Thank you so much! It is so exciting and I need to focus on the fun and adventure in it more than the ohmygoshwhathavewedone? part of it. I so miss reading blogs and being able to write but by the end of the night it is all I can do to get in my pjs and lounge on the couch with Husband for a while before going to bed. I do speed read your posts from my email, so know I am still around and reading.
Congratulations! That sounds absolutely wonderful. Good luck to you all! I hope it all works out brilliantly for you all! 🙂
Thanks to you my friend. It is going to be great!
Congratulations!
I really hope you enjoy this chance at a fresh start.
Best of luck to you and your family!
Thanks. It will be a grand adventure!
Oh congratulations to you!! Is it weird of me to say I’m so proud of you? But I am. I really am. You’ve worked so hard to achieve this and you’ve succeeded. That is impressive to me.
Nope, not weird at all Jodi. While we have never met, I feel like I know you and I that you know me. Thank you for the comment – I am pretty excited about making it through this past year and finally reaping some of the rewards that come from all that hard work.
You will flourish. Washington’s loss is Arizona’s gain. Congratulations!
Thank you!