Teacher Prayer

Okay, Universe, I give it up to you. I am grateful for my blessings. Love my family, dogs and friends. I do not take for granted the opportunities I have been provided. I devote my life to serving others as a teacher and in the community. I pray under the elm tree. Appreciate my life. Allow joy to flood my being. Thank you.

This is the prayer I almost posted on Facebook, but then decided it would be misinterpreted or perhaps just too "unsacred" of a place for such a sincere sentiment. I am ending my long long-term sub position Friday and out into the land of interviewing for that elusive permanent position for next year. I've gone to some very promising interviews already, but it's the beginning of the interviewing season for teaching, so I'm strapping on my seatbelt and getting on the rollercoaster.

I must trust that the universe has a plan for me that is beyond my control. That is the advice my teacher-guru-friend gave me the other day. The right school will offer me a position in the right place at the right time. In the meanwhile, all I can do is hustle and put my best self out there. Beyond that, it's not in my control. Especially since the BIG district in town is on a "hiring freeze" until May 15. So, that means no school can even post a position, let alone offer a position until after that date.

And with my son's prep school commitment looming... that's not a lot of time.

I did choke back tears yesterday as my little elementary students walked out of my classroom for the last time, clutching their three haikus they wrote during the bell. Oh, I'm so funny. When I was first confronted with such little people, I was baffled. After almost three months, I'm endeared. I've never met a pickle I didn't adore. Even little pickles. Especially those dimple-knuckled hands clutching poems. They're that little.

I will walk out of the school doors on Friday with a smile of gratitude for the wonderful experience I've had serving these students. I will focus on the open doors that will welcome me in the fall. I pray.