... the cars, the roads, the decisions and especially the sky.
This summer I've been on a journey of finding the right first job of my teaching career. I've spent countless hours and reams of paper writing essays, filling out questionnaires and mailing a very basic summary of myself to districts in Pennsylvania and other states in our nation. I've had a total of 15 interviews (2 more to be added by the end of the week) and one job offer ... that I turned down.
On a Tuesday afternoon I got a call from a principal in Texas City, Texas that I had a phone interview with a few weeks earlier. He was offering me an English and ESL position in his high school. He gave me until Friday to make up my mind and so I began to contemplate the idea of moving to Texas. I was determined to take the job ... until I began discussing it with my family.
The next day I came home from a doctor appointment and my dad told me to be ready in half an hour to head to DC to fly to Texas. I was still coming out of the anesthesia, but agreed. We flew out of Dulles that evening. With a brief stop-over in North Carolina, we made it to Houston around 11 where the heat of the day was still evident in the evening breeze.
The next morning in the shower I was hit with just how crazy it all seemed. My family, friends, my life was all back in Pennsylvania and here I was debating a move to the other part of the country. I met with the principal and other staff members in the midst of apartment hunting. I came out extremely torn. I loved the school and staff, and the thought of my own classroom was both exciting and frightening at the same time. Dad and I searched for one more place, but before we found it, I made my decision: Texas wasn't for me. We spent the rest of the day seeing the sights and enjoying some delicious Tex-Mex. We were back on a plane by 11am the next day.
Back in Lancaster, I keep thinking back to my time, about how it could have been different, if maybe I gave up to quickly, but I'm confident that I made the right choice for me now.
I thought now was the time to make a jump -- to do the crazy adventure thing -- but not just yet. Someday I hope to take that leap of faith, someday when I have someone to do it with me. Until then, I'll find little adventures in this part of the country. I did however learn two important things on this little excursion:
I thrive on the support and company of those I love and I'm okay with that.
and
The sky is a thousand times bigger in Texas.
No comments:
Post a Comment