I came across this letter I sent to my New Teacher Mentor I had up in Michigan when I was a brand new teacher. Words just can't explain what she did for me as I was bumbling through learning how to be a teacher. If you have had an awesome one-of-a-kind mentor, then you know what I mean. She was more than just a mentor though, she was my work mom and the closest friend I had at the time that was not my wife. Man, I would give almost anything to hear her voice again and have a cuppa with her.
Anyway, reading this really brought back memories of that time shortly after moving to Tennessee. It was really rough and hard at first (you can read about it in other posts on this blog) but this letter was written after things started to level out. One thing I can say to people that have had their lives completely turned upside down is that things will get better. You just have to keep going and have faith and lean on those who support you. So here it is.
Dear Gini,
I can’t even begin to explain how much I miss you. It seems
that I am running the whole show for my classes. Overall though I am doing
pretty well considering how quick and fully my life has been disrupted. So much
is different here and I realize the things I looked forward to every day are
things that I enjoyed the most deep down. You know, there was one morning that
I almost
got a good pot o’ coffee. Almost.
But, things move on as they say. I will be shortly ending my
first semester here and that is the same as a full year on a period schedule.
In January, I will be teaching the same thing to a new bunch of kids. At least
I will have my lessons in place. It was difficult and I only covered about 2/3 of the information that I should have. I worked it out and the biggest downfall
of the block is that not only am I shorted about 300min but I am also expected
to teach the same amount of concepts. Needless to say, I couldn’t make it.
Another problem that I have encountered is that it is unreasonable to actually
teach two full 45 min periods of information in one block. The kids literally
cannot take in the information that fast. So, I have been doing a lot of
drilling.
On the other side of life, my wife is doing much much
better. She is still taking her antidepressant medicine (Lexapro) but I really
don’t think that she needs it anymore. She has fallen in love with her new
position at the kindergarten and is just having a blast working with the young
ones. We are still waiting to get the results back from her Praxis test. If she
does not pass this test, she will not be able to keep her position. I am sure
that she did fine. And, if she didn’t then there will be another chance in
January.
My son is probably doing the best out of us all. He has
gotten to the point now at school (daycare) where he doesn’t take his Elmo Doll
(best $20 I have ever spent) and I can barely get a hug out of him when I leave
him there. Hmmmmmm. . . I think I am having a harder time with it than he is.
He is certainly making sure that his independence is known. He gets so angry
with me when I discipline him that one day he told me that I was not his best
friend. I just calmly told him, “That is fine son because sometimes I have
to be your Daddy and not your friend.” After I thought about that statement
later, I realized that I had said probably the best proverb that I will ever
have as a parent.
I am making some pretty good friends here at the school.
They are very welcoming here in Tennessee.
I found that I really didn’t have to try too hard to just strike up a conversation. I do have to say that just like all places, there are clicks and
rumors and such just like everywhere else. There are good teachers and bad of
course and we even have the Dress code Nazis. Yes, that is even what they are
called here too. The country here is very very beautiful and we take rides all
over to explore. I have seen a few cave systems and a couple of falls. I am
excited for the winter here to pass over so I can explore some more.
I am doing very well now and I have even started to let go of some of the anger I had for my former principal. I am sure that you have picked
up on this a little and I will admit that I was being pretty obstinate about
that. My life changed so fast and so completely which caused my wife to have
her problems and that turned into my son not adjusting to daycare and then the
harsh reality that I really was away from home for good. I just needed to be
angry with something. I am even planning to email him at the school to just let
him know all is going alright.
And before I close this letter I have to tell you that I
have gotten a new train! It is a TIME LIFE train that has 5 box cars with
pictures of famous covers on them. Boy is it neat! Every once in a while I pull
it out and my boy and I just run it around. I can’t help it, I am just a big
kid still.
Have a good holiday and a Merry Christmas. I am going to be
up there and I will get a hold of you to drop by hopefully. Tell Gretchen I say
Hi and that all is going well for us. I know she worries for me.
Love and Miss you
Guy
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