So... last post was September 1. Wow. Was that time even real? Lol. It is November 20, 2011. Tomorrow begins a 2-day week followed by Thanksgiving Break. Which is funny because of course I am coming home for Thanksgiving, but I was just home last weekend, November 10-14.
What a roller coaster the past few months have been! I didn't end up starting with my new Kindergarten class until Monday, September 19. On that day I began with 14 Kindergarten students who were cute as can be. They were very smart, and I couldn't wait for all of the adventures we would embark on. Looking back, in a way it seems I've had them for a year, and in another way it seems like yesterday all of this began.
Making trips home (I've been home twice now since the beginning of October) brings up mixed emotions. My first trip home, the 2nd week of October, I spent all of my time with my family, and we went to Melissa's wedding. It was a bit of a bittersweet trip. It had been 9 weeks since I'd seen my family (longer than I'd gone my entire life,) and the last day was a little sad. I even choked up a little.
My next trip home, which was last weekend, was to attend my mom's awards banquet for her prestigious Community Hospitals Nursing Excellence Award for Therapeutic Relationships. This trip was a very interesting, fun, loving, fulfilling "vacation", one that I needed desperately. I also got to see many friends during this time, even friends I didn't even expect to!
I've made some really powerful friendships in the short time I've been here. in a little over 4 months, I've developed a very strong friendship with Kathleen. I seriously don't know what in the hell I would do without this girl. She is 22, a music teacher, and just moved out here from New Jersey. We often talk about how clueless we feel being in this position- alone, young, taking on Santa Fe. We have had so many crazy adventures- that are NEVER planned, always interesting, and keep us laughing. I can't imagine being out here without Kathleen. We are eachother's stronghold. Sometimes we're both just over everything, and we sit at my house and just keep saying "Ugh!" and whining about life. Other times we're both on top of the world, jumping around and playing in the showers and bathtubs at Lowe's... and then there are times when one of us is down and the other isn't, and that's when we pick eachother up.
I also have become really close to a coworker, Sandy. She teaches 6th grade. Last weekend I went over to her beautiful house and we took her dogs on a walk. She has helped me out incredibly, including bringing me sunflowers to work after a particularly horrible day, with a note attached saying "Thought you could use some sunshine this morning."
Last weekend at home was great... it was kind of bittersweet as I realized how much some things had changed, but all in all it was a wonderful vacation. It was a little hard to leave, but definitely not like the trip in October. This weekend I vowed to have an eventful time so that I wouldn't keep thinking about home and the "limbo" that happens when I'm going back and forth. friday night another incredible friend who I worked with at my first school, Leslie, had a "girls' nite." Meeting her friends and hanging out was so refreshing. I really had fun, and our conversations were so entertaining. These girls are married or engaged, so of course within an hour I was being told "We have someone for you" lol. they made me feel like I could stay here... which was something I needed, with the back and forthness of the past few weeks. We played a game called Fishbowl, that I want to play again and again and again. :) Saturday I got up to go support the Girls on the Run at their 5K. My plan was to run it, but my endurance isn't much more than 1.5 miles or so, so I decided to get there at 7:30 and help out. I got to help some other staff members at my school paint faces of different girls who were running in the race. One of the teachers at my school actually requested to have her face painted too. First, she asked for a dragonfly. Lol. I felt glad to be helping out at this event. I met a lot of the parents of the 3rd and 4th grade girls who run, and my principal and some other teachers were there too. Another "at-home" feeling for me. I came home and went back to bed for awhile, then woke up to call Kathleen, as we were supposed to get together. She exclaimed "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? MICHAEL AND I ARE AT WAL-MART AND I JUST BOUGHT A BIKE! COME WITH US!" Apparently Miss Kathleen never learned to ride a bike... So I met up with her and Michael at starbucks, where Michael learned that Kathleen and I are the same person, lol. Then we went to Lowe's and had so much fun. I was pretty sure we were going to be kicked out, sitting in bathtubs and closing ourselves in showers. I remember doing similar things in high school at Walgreen's. lol. Then we went back to Michael's house and taught Kathleen to ride a bike. She learned in ten minutes, and was so excited. Michael was telling me "she's just one of those people who makes you enjoy the little things in life." How true! Kathleen is one of those people that makes me, and many others, realize that something like riding a bike can be such a cool adventure. Her love for life is contagious, and when i'm open enough, I catch it. :)
I'm looking forward to thanksgiving this week, and going home again. I enjoy seeing Megan and Brayden, and hope to see Nicole, as well as several others. I will miss Mom's side of the family's thanksgiving, but will get to see all the crazy Langdon boys for our "Hillbilly Thanksgiving." (long story... Max caught a deer... that's what we're eating.)
Slowly but surely, I'm detaching from my Indiana life and making a life out here. In the past week or two I've been referred to by my boss as "confident" and "tenacious" and by a friend as a "go-getter." And Sandy... well, she just reminds me of everything good about myself and stands in when I need someone to lean on.
It's a great day to be alive... :)
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