Thursday, August 28, 2008

School Starting Nostalgia

Anticipation thick in the air. The smell of freshly cut construction paper. Name tags laminated and not dog-eared or penciled on. Windows shining from recent polishing. Water fountains glistening in their glorious cleanliness. Round tanned faces, gleaming eyes and tentative smiles. The silence of the non-verbalized fears, juxtaposed with understandable excitement. Perfectly placed bows, ironed collars, shoe laces that will never again be as white as the first day at school. All these things I miss about the first day of school.

It's weird, I know, because I truly believe that I have the best job in the world. Really, right now, being a mommy to my kids 24-7 is the best job and most rewarding job that I could ever want or hope to have. But that teacher side of me, that side that says "what about your professional goals?" still echoes in me, specifically at the start of the beginning of every school year. My kids aren't old enough to participate in the yearly migration into halls of linoleum and brightly colored bulletin boards, and I am not necessarily looking forward to that day. But the heart that God has placed in me for children to learn and seek and grow - the part of me that made me want to be a teacher in the first place, has not gone away...in fact, it is present every day as a mommy. Every day here is like the first day of school - unknown, exciting, and never a disappointment!

So, as we enter the foray into another school year, I am nostalgic about the first moments of school, but so blessed and so overwhelmingly reminded at every turn, that for right now, God has given me the perfect job for me. And it's spelled M-O-M-M-Y. (Hudson will learn how to spell it someday!)

2 comments:

The Wyler Family said...

i totally agree 100%! this is my first year with a different job (which i wouldn't trade for anything) and it is just a little bit strange to not be going back to school.

lifelaughterchaos said...

i think it is wonderful that you still have a passion for what you did before kiddos. that means that is what God designed you to do.

I still have NO idea what God created me to do (professionally). I no longer have a desire to run a hospital. Someday I will figure out how to get paid to talk..or maybe write (because really that's still speaking). I would be passionate about that...but perhaps I am destined to wipe hineys forever;)