The year 2020 has proved to be a year of change. Change that the whole, side world embarked on together. A world that had often embraced separation with loud conflicts with weak solutions. 2020's society has found a common bond within this worldwide pandemic.
With millions of people in the world entering isolation to fight against the spread of the coronavirus or aka - COVID19, the need for positivity becomes even more critical. As a teacher, it is hard to even put into words the grief that I've experienced being so abruptly taken from my students. I know my peers feel it too. We left for a much-needed break on March 13, 2020, to never return back to a classroom setting for teaching and assembling together as a class of this school year. We kept trying to "teach" through virtual correspondence and paper copies of weekly studies but how I yearned to have face to face time with my students. To lay eyes on my special kids and hug their sweet beings. Just one last connection to let me and them know that I cared and wanted them so desperately know that they were one of a kind and so much a gift to this world that they were a part of!
As a mother and wife caught up in a pandemic, I had the wonderful delight to stay at home and not worry about this meeting or that event to attend. To stay home and indulge in many, many naps that were much needed, to Netflix binge the shows that I never had time to watch before, and all those house projects that had been put on hold because of lack of time. This time quickly became a "game-changer" for my husband and me. We had made a huge life change within our careers the year before.
Kyle, my husband, had taken on a job in Amarillo. This job had appeared to be his dream job and a step up in the career ladder. I had first thought to retire from teaching after 26 years but took on a new adventure of teaching in a small school outside of Amarillo as a Sophomore English teacher. That job was a struggle but also such a delight because I met some of the best kids on earth at River Road. I will say that I truly loved the students and many of the faculty members on that campus. We put our home on the market to sell in Childress and were able to live in a small garage apartment located about 35 miles from Amarillo. We lived this way, traveling back to our house in Childress every weekend for eight long months. Most of our belongings were packed and stacked in our garage ready to move once we had sold our house and found a new one. With living on bare essentials, merely eating, sleeping, working, and driving back and forth to destinations every single day, the joy of being "stuck" in our Childress home was a hidden treasure. We both realized soon that our place was in Childress living in the home that we both loved so much. Living in a small, west Texas town where we both grew up is where we belonged and needed to return to and reside. This decision brought our whole family peace, excitement, and joy. If it was not for the dreaded COVID19, we might not have figured this out!
No comments:
Post a Comment