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I started doing a thing I hadn't done since I was

I started doing a thing I hadn't done since I was 26: Teaching elementary students in a regular school classroom.

Or rather, I've been substitute teaching in regular school classrooms!
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As a young’un, I taught K-5 music as a public school teacher. I loved that gig...but then came moving and my husband’s frequent traveling. Also, becoming a certified teacher across states wasn't simple.

Most of all, I loved staying home with my kids and believed that was where I was supposed to be--and I'm thankful that's where I could be thanks to my husband's employment.
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I entertained going back to teaching part-time when my kids were all school-aged, but I didn’t think I’d have it in me to encourage other people's kids all day long and have enough in the tank to come home and encourage my own. ⁠Countless full time teachers with children and families manage both BEAUTIFULLY—I can name many I know in my life alone! Plus, by the time all my kids were in school, I’d picked back up my old love of writing, and I continue to enjoy the doors God opens with that.
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But it’s a new season, so I'm dipping my toes into teaching again by subbing part of each week. I enjoy the flexibility it provides as I'm still very much writing!
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Let me say, however, that I'd forgotten how exhausting😅 a classroom full of young darlings can be (GOD BLESS YOU, TEACHERS.) 🥰Also? I’d forgotten how HILARIOUS young kids are.

Case in point: One Kinder girl looked at me and asked, "Do you live in Colorado?" I replied, "Well yes, I do!” To which she said with much skepticism, "You can't live in Colorado cuz you talk too country." ⁠🤣🤣🤣
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Great day, I laughed to high heaven. As I did earlier this week when a 1st grade boy kept calling me Mrs. Tall rather than Mrs. Strong. (Fair mistake.)

Anyway, I suppose this is my testimony that it’s kinda special to re-start something I used to do while continuing to love what I’ve been doing a while. Both/And wins again.

If there's one thing I've learned after a whole ye

Every August, I laud the beauty of Black-eyed Susa

Every August, I laud the beauty of Black-eyed Susans, a simple flower that shines all happy as a landmark at the intersection of End of Summer and Beginning of Fall (at least in Colorado).⁠
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This last week of August…

🌻I hopped out of my car four different times to snap Black-eyed Susan pics.

🚲I rode my bike for the first time since my good man bought and gave it to me five years ago. (Why in the world did it take me so long?!?)

🤸‍♀️I worked on not one but two new projects that I'm so excited about, I could just burst.

🥰I sat on Christie's *glorious* back deck with friends, friends who are a support group for this stage of life. ⁠⁠The older I get, the more I learn I need friends now as much as ever.⁠
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These were some highs, but of course real life has its lows, too, and mine is no exception. ⁠
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Be that as it may, as the sun sets on August, I want to be like those Black-eyed Susans, happy to be where I am, in the golden light of grace everywhere.

When I hugged my college girl goodbye before headi

When I hugged my college girl goodbye before heading out of town, I cried more than I did after doing the same thing a year ago for the first time.⁠ ⁠
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That surprised me until I felt the familiar knot in my stomach, the knot of knowing we'd walk through the front door of our home as well as the next few months of our lives without her in-person presence.⁠
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After winging our way to Colorado from Texas, David and I walked through our front door and said to one another, "Well, here we go again!" ⁠
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Here we go again to an empty nest again. Here we go again to the acute weight of a quiet house. Here we go again to missing the kids all over again.⁠
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BUT! Unlike a year ago, I now know all those emotions will simmer down. And they have rather lickety-split as my husband and I settle into a normal that feels much less new than it did last year. I have a quicker realization that the nest isn't empty as much as changing as it fills with different but good things. ⁠
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I've learned a thing or two as well, like how we can bet our kids' tuition payments that while our children won't need us the same way they used to, they'll still need us.⁠
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For more on what this last year has taught me, tap the link in my bio or visit www.incourage.me to read or listen to 5 Things to Know When You Open the Door to An Empty (or Emptier) Nest.⁠❤️

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