Life Throws a Curve Ball

I haven't posted in a long time, and I really don't have a sufficient excuse to give.  Life gets busy, priorities change, and we move on.  Aside from staying active, sports, classes, and work, we all suffered a bout of pneumonia this fall, and that's thrown me for a loop ever since.

The recent happenings is that since the end of March, I've been dealing with the pending loss of my teaching position.  Because of our rural community and the economy, our area has been hit hard.  Families are moving away, which means that our student numbers have gone down.  Because of this, my district had to do cuts, and because I'm the last one hired in my content area, I'm gone.

Since the beginning of April, I have filled out applications, organized my teaching portfolio, gone to a few interviews, and called districts to follow up on their status.  So far no bites.  It's been a real emotional roller coaster.  The inability to land a job so far has lowered any self-esteem I may have had.  It's been a real test of my faith, too. 

Today was the last day of school with my kiddos.  It was tough saying goodbye to some terrific 7th and 8th graders, and some former students, too.  It's amazing how exhausting dealing with an emotional roller coaster can be!

One of the positives is that this past February we adopted Charlie.  He's a part Maine Coon kitty.  He's adorable and so loving!  I've never really thought I'd love cats, but Charlie has stolen my heart.  He's a sweetie and gives affection back when I hug him.  Just hearing him purr warms my heart.  Well, time to sign off.  I still have to go to work tomorrow.  It's a half-day workshop, then I'm getting together with a few coworkers for a "last day of school" meal.