Yes, cheesy word play in the title there. I really wanted to title this post with a quote by Mary Poppins sans vowels, but I didn't think anyone could decode "ngh s s gd s fst." (Or can you? I would be so, so impressed if you could.)
Big changes are afoot in my little corner of the world (No, I'm not pregnant. I just really, really like empire waist dresses, thank you very much. The high waist makes my Welsh Corgi like legs seem just a wee bit longer than they really are.). After a whirlwind closing of the school year (#14 for me) on June 7th I put full time teaching on hiatus for the forseeable future.
Yes, you read that right. Next year, I'm going to be teaching high school English PART TIME. After I expressed interest in teaching something less than six classes a day, my district offered me what I see as a dream schedule and I accepted. More about this will come out in dribbles and spills throughout the summer, but here's the tip of the iceberg.
Of course, half time is also half the pay and that's where my quote by Mary Poppins (or, I guess, to be more precise, P.L. Travers) comes in. I'm at a point in my life where I don't define success with money. If you do, I won't judge, but it's not where I am anymore. I've been reading some minimalist blogs lately like this one and this one and I've started to rethink my goals and priorities.
That last sentence sounds like I could be on the verge of selling all of my worldly possessions, and doing something like this guy, but I'm not planning anything that extreme. Instead, I'm reconciling "The Person I (Thought I ) Want(ed) To Be" with Who I Really Am and making changes where I see a disparity.
For example, since I began teaching 14 years ago I've aspired to be someone who looks really pulled together--hair, make-up, the whole nine yards. I thought it would make a difference, but I never really made it there. The times I came close I didn't get the pay-off I expected. Even though several years ago I spent forever getting ready for the first and subsequent call back interview at My Dream Job, they offered the position to someone else. When I spent hours getting ready for a gathering where I didn't know many people I still felt awkward when I got there. I would have been better off spending the hours before the party doing yoga to relax and refocus on things that really matter.
The few good hair days I had (all of them B.L.T.--Before Little Tiger) were the result of waking up a solid hour and a half early and putting a ridiculous amount of time and product into my hair. If I have an extra ninety minutes in my day I'm definitely not spending it in front of the mirror. I would rather pull my hair back into a pony tail and sleep/craft/read/do pretty much anything else.
Even though I realized this years ago, I've still spent the past six years paying a lot of money to get my hair cut and colored at a salon so if I ever decide I want to be The Woman With Nice Hair I could jump into that role. Except I'm ready to admit to myself now that I know I never will. I also will never be the Woman With Nice Shoes or The Girl With An Immaculate Car. And I'm OK with that.
So I'm going to go to Great Clips with my daughters and wear clogs. Although I never will have an immaculate car, I will make more of an effort to clear the seats of crayons before I park it in the sun for six hours.
In return, I want to devote my time and resources to what really matter and realize that "Enough is as good as a feast."
I'm leaving you with one of my favorite pictures from this week. I'll tell you more about this later.
So happy for you, Audra! So very excited for you.
Posted by: Haley | Sunday, June 17, 2012 at 06:59 PM