Saying Good-Bye...For Now

This day has been very bittersweet.  This morning I said good-bye to my KinderKids for the summer.  Normally, this wouldn't be such a big deal. But, for the first time in eight years, I will not be going back to school in the fall.

That's right, friends...Mrs. Koehn is taking some time off from full-time teaching.  While this is something that I have been considering for awhile now, it was still a very hard decision to make.  You see, teaching is part of who I am...from the time that I was teaching my stuffed animals using the teacher's manuals that my librarian Mrs. Johnson would let me check out, and for the past 8 1/2 years...I have lived and breathed teaching.

Not just the teaching, though...the kids. I love my babies!!!  Teaching children, spending time with them, watching them as they learn new things, and grow to love learning as I do makes my heart smile.  I got to thinking last night of all my students that I've had...starting with my first little kinders in Mrs. Lagadinos's class when I was student teaching (they are now freshmen in high school)...to my fourth graders in Mrs.Colbert's class (I watched many of them graduate high school last night)...to my four classes of kindergarteners at Tuckers Crossroads Elementary (the first of which are now eighth graders)...to my last four classes of kindergarteners at Elzie Patton (my most recent below).

My 2011-2012 KinderKids

Wow.  What a journey I have been on with these amazing groups of children.  I have smiled and laughed daily, seen an abundance of growth and change each year, watched "lightbulbs" go off constantly.  I've sang, danced, played, taught, built, created, dreamed, and learned right along with them.  I've given and received bear hugs on a daily basis, wiped tears, fixed boo-boos, looked on as first teeth have been pulled, mended hurt feelings, and cheered them on when they told me "I can't" or "I don't know how".  I have attended birthday parties, ball games, recitals, and graduations.  I have visited the hospital when one was too sick to come to school, hugged and loved on two of my sweet girls at their daddy's funerals, and wiped tears from the cheeks of another when he missed his brother who went to heaven far too soon.  Their lives have been woven into mine for the past eight years.

But, recently I have felt the desire and calling to stay home and be more present for my own children.  After much consideration and prayer, I know that this decision is the right one.  I have faith that this new path will lead to amazing things for me, my boys, and our family.  But, letting go of what I have held so dear for so long is not easy.  A friend commented not too long ago on one of my blog posts that said "I can't imagine walking away from a job you love, but to walk towards something else you love even more might make it easier."  And that couldn't be more true.  (Thanks, Tracey!)  Knowing that I will be able to spend more time with my boys during these precious years makes it worth it.  Teaching will always be there after all, but my sweet boys will only be little for a short time.

Leaving off tonight with words posted this morning by my wonderful, amazing, friend (and former co-worker...sniff, sniff) Kristle Chalos...just another reason that leaving teaching is so hard...my AMAZING teacher friends!!

“20 years from now you will be disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the one’s you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore. Dream. Discover.”

~Mark Twain~

Till next week friends!

Brittany :)

P.S.- As I said, I am giving up full-time teaching.  I will be working part-time; Tuesdays and Thursdays at a local preschool with one of the most amazing women I know!  Shannon Stephens...I cannot wait for this new adventure with you!!!