Bittersweet

Yesterday I closed out my first year of teaching in North Carolina. The word I used to describe this year is bittersweet.

Last year when I accepted the job in Wake County, I had absolutely no idea where I would be living as I was moving from Maryland and we all know how crazy the housing market was/is. We closed on our house in June and I realized my school was going to be 45 minutes each way. Not great, but not terrible. I have been doing that drive for the past 9 years in Maryland. Plus traffic down here can't be worse than where I was coming from.

I loved my school and the drive wasn't so bad. However, the school hours were the complete opposite of my kids. They got on the bus at 6:55 am and my students didn't arrive until 8:45 am. I used the time in the morning to get things done, but this also meant that I didn't get off until 4:30, then had to drive. I was often picking the kids up from after care around 5:15-5:30ish. We got home, ate dinner, go ready for bed and then started all over the next day. The school district I worked for and where I lived also had completely different spring breaks and winter break was different.

Because of this, I knew by October that I was not going to stay there. Knowing this early was a blessing because it helped me focus on doing my job, learning everything I needed to know about North Carolina schools, without building strong relationships with people that I knew I was may or may not ever see again. The school was super supportive and I was open with my admin and co-workers as soon as I knew I wasn't going to stay.

So this school year was bittersweet. I met some awesome people, learned from an amazing school, and adjusted to live in the south!

I am super excited to join my new school though! I will be in Orange County, at a school that has the same hours as my kids, and is literally 15-20 minutes from my house!

I won't forget my year at Cedar Fork and thanks to everyone there that supported me along the way! I am going to miss those amazing sun lights in my room!