The End of an Era, The Start of an Age

When you’re in high school and you think about your future, you have this idea that you know it all. You think your path is set, and you have the plan. What’s that saying? “We make plans, and God laughs”? It’s pretty accurate. Never in my time at my alma mater did I ever think I would go back to be a teacher there, or be a teacher at all for that matter. Here I am though, less than a week from my start date and I could not be more excited. It is an odd feeling when your past teachers, counselors, and coaches become your coworkers. I jokingly like to call them my coworkers, but I still definitely feel like the student.

Although I am siked to start this new journey, I am so STRESSED. I have literally cut myself off from going into Hobby Lobby, Target, Michaels, and Dollar Tree until further notice because I cannot be trusted. All little signs with cute sayings, fake flowers, bins, and gel pens are not safe if I am in the store. Meanwhile, a few awesome friends and I started to paint the dreary tan walls in my classroom a bright gray/blue and haven’t exactly finished yet. I am cutting it a little close, but if you know me well, you know I do well under pressure. There is a lot left to do. But I am proud to say I learned (sorta) how to spray paint AND use my shiny new red Cricut. I will be making all the “home sweet classroom” signs my heart desires. In the midst of all this excitement, I was literally punched in the gut with a major adulthood wake up call.

As I venture closer to 26, the letters from my dad’s company are coming in letting me know when all of my fabulous insurance coverage will end. It’s kinda funny how when you’re young, you look at the people in movies that are my age and paying bills and learning how to adult and you feel almost bad for them...Yeah, I’m there. It’s okay though, with this age and full-time employment, comes different expectations and I am looking forward to filling those.

Shifting gears to the end of Summer. Seriously though, where did Summer go? I feel like I blacked out or something and suddenly it’s gone. I made sure to make Camp MeMe (me watching my nieces) awesome this week. We hit up a marine lab and I got to feed a stingray, and then my awesome friend showed us all around the Capital. I don’t even feel like I got sunburnt enough for it to be almost the end of Summer. I know once school starts, and my first official year of teaching starts, I will blink and it will be Christmas. It’s crazy to think how this time last year I was prepping to start an internship, and now I’m prepping my second classroom at my second school.

I hope you make the best of these last few weeks of freedom.

Love, @MissMisplacesThings
(Most recently, my car keys. One pair mysteriously vanished at Tijuana Flats, never to be found. The other pair was eaten by a shopping bag in the trunk of my car and excavated the next day)

- Emily M.