After the Change

Long story short - I'm not a HouseHon anymore, and I don't quite know what that means for my "online persona."  Such as it is!

My current, full-time job fills me with such joy.  I'm working with kids, and I'm learning so much, and I'm absolutely in love with my days.  And G, my fantastic fiance, has been away for work, which means I've been living with my Mom (my brilliant blogger).

I started this blog because I had something to say about my life as a part-time employee and full-time HouseHon. Now, I feel I have a lot to say about other things.  I have a lot to say about being with kids and being surprised and delighted by them.  I have a lot to say about learning how to be in a couple.  And I have a lot, a whole lot, to say about being a big sister.  

In the past week and a half, I have worked on pints and quarts, pictographs, checks and balances, and patience.  At home, I've been watching Disney programming for my ever-too-grown-up super sassy sis.  I've been photographing fashion shows and giggling about boys.  And frankly, this new life makes my in-between stuckness seem - seem, well, ages ago.  Done.  And there is a little part of me - I guess, somewhere, I'm mourning it.

Again, I have to remind myself to return to HoCo.  Well, here it is -- I work in a wonderful school.  These kids are so endearingly sweet and so supremely challenging, and it all happens because I work in Howard County.  What I do would not be the same if I did it somewhere else.  Recently, I attended an event at which the students showed off their own work, and I was stunned by the amount of passion and fun that came with good teaching and great support.  I'm amazed by my colleagues and mentors, and by my students, and by their parents.

And yes, I miss painting my toenails, watching re-runs, and doing dishes.  But when I was doing those things, I was missing a little, aching part of myself that knew that being a teacher was what I really wanted to do.  What I want to do.  I want to do it here, in Howard County, in this home after Baltimore, in this place of grass and no sidewalks and no real downtown.  And that - that's why I'm a HoCo - a HouseHon, a para, a sister, a daughter, and a woman about to get married and make a life.

'Cause if these are the kids that are raised here, I couldn't do better.