Career Change

I've been referring to these twins as game changers.  I'm sure we have no idea how much our game is going to continue to change as things move along!  

This past year or two or three...probably since I was pregnant with Caroline, I have had a desire to quit teaching.  It seemed like a dream that we couldn't possibly afford.  Being married to a teacher and his salary, times are always lean.  Jeremy has usually worked two jobs on top of teaching to help make ends meet.  He always works summers.  We rarely seem to have extra, so not teaching seemed farfetched.  We would play with the numbers, look into other job opportunities, etc...and still I kept teaching.

Even after finding out we were going to have TWO babies, I still thought I would work one more year.  This thought continued until early August.  Reality started to set in.  I had a close friend look me straight in the eye and say, "Alycia, you can't work!"  Looking at the calendar and all the up in the air moments that would have no plan until they actually happened...feeling the guilt of letting my students and my teaching partner down mid year...feeling overwhelmed to say the least.

Long story short.  I decided to quit.  This building is one I went into for 11 years.  12 years teaching.  I love my career.  There are many, many, many frustrations with the field of education, but that's a whole other topic.  I love teaching.  I love the excitement of that great idea that I want to try out with my kids...seeing that moment when kids get it...connecting with people...being silly and not caring...being good at what I do...having a career to be proud of.  I let it go for now.  

Two months into this stay at home gig...really, it needs a different job description.  We are hardly ever just home!  And full time mom doesn't seem right either, because I was a full time mom when I was working away from my girls too...anyway.  I have been in this new career for a couple of months now and I love it.  Mostly.  It has been so freeing to let all the stress of teaching go and just focus on my family.  I have so much more  for them on a daily basis than when I was teaching.  There are days.  But the peace I feel overall tells me we made the choice that is best for our family.  And we are doing it!  We're making ends meet.  We will never have a fancy house, or fancy cars, or shop at fancy places...but I wouldn't want any of that if it meant I couldn't be right where I am.