Summer Fades into School

In a couple weeks I will be starting school in a couple different ways.  This coming school year I get to be both the teacher and the student.  I know many people who would say that when you are a teacher you are always the student as well, and I agree.  But this year, I literally will be a student at UC Davis and a (student) teacher in a fourth grade classroom.  I am excited beyond words to go back into the classroom and work with students, as well as back into the classroom and learn and study and add more tools to my teaching tool box so that I may become the best teacher I can possibly be for my students.

Me with two amazing educators that inspire me frequently!

I realize that education is not exactly food related, which is what I originally thought this blog would be about, but education and my loved ones are things in my life that sustain me.  The fact that many of my friends are also involved in education as a profession is not a surprise to me, but what has come as a joyful surprise is how similar and connected some of my close friends' lives seem to be with my life (or my life to theirs...).  A few examples:  one of my best friends is also going to be teaching fourth grade this year.  Another friend is starting a program that seems to be very similar to mine, just in a different state.  Yet another friend will be in the Redwoods living out the dream of being a Naturalist working with fifth and sixth graders.  One of my longest and closest friends is pursuing a career as a paramedic.  Not exactly a "teacher" but definitely on the front lines of helping people and making people's lives better.  I have other friends who are first year teachers and others who are in other jobs in making education fun, memorable, and accessible.  My amazing parents have been suggesting and showing me resources they have found and think might be able to help me in my chosen profession, as well as having conversations with me about their perspectives and support for me basically living out my life long dream.  In my mind, synchronicity at its best.

All the above are just the beginning in the connections that I feel.  I met many of these friends when we were involved in, or working at, the same project or organization.  I am just amazed at the wealth of resources I now have in these friends, many of whom I plan (hope?) to have in my life for any foreseeable amount of time.  Not only do we share a passion for quality education, but also a passion and drive to make the world a better place.  To quote my favorite book Off The Map, "...we say yes to building our own visions and dreams and ideas, even though they may fail.  ...Instead of saying 'No that isn't enough,' I want to say 'Yes, we can make it more.'"I am just so thrilled about the connections that I've been able to make in my life so that when I reflect and ask myself if I've made the right decisions in life, I can so confidently know the answer is a resounding "Yes!"