It was early February and I had gone to get a haircut and pamper myself a bit. I started playing The Lumineers album, Cleopatra, and thought I’d try to write for a bit. I wrote an entire entry and thought, “I’ll translate it once I get home so Tia Duilia can read it.” Whatever I did once I got home must have been more important because I forgot about this draft until today.
Having gone through so many unexpected situations with this pandemic gave me a fun perspective into where my mind was when I wrote these words. Writing matters.
Here’s the original draft from that day in February:
I have many drafts of unfinished posts or confusing ideas, so I’ll leave those be for a while and instead write without excuses.
It’s been a week of new tasks, and entertaining anecdotes. Terrible air quality, followed by blue and clear skies, worries, and rumors followed by an overdue obsession to washing hands. Life as usual. Third grade keeps me on my toes, but filling my bucket at the same time; it was the best decision I made before leaving this school. The more I learn about upper elementary, the more I realize I have specific goals for where I want my career to go. All of a sudden, Middle School and Admin don’t sound so scary.
Our departure process has been the ”new stress” these days with the many tasks and loads of decisions that we must make. Thankfully for us, my school has the most organized and supportive system in place to make everything easier. I will brag about them a lot more in the future, I’m sure!
The questions from friends and curious peeps about our next destination keep getting the same answer, “we don’t know yet,” which no longer weighs on me. As I worked on my resume last week, I realized how much I miss starting over somewhere new. I’m all for ending cycles and finding something new to learn and play with and the past two years gave me plenty of ideas I can’t wait to explore. Whether it leads to a job or not, I’ll have a plan to craft.
With the many lists of things to get done, I also acknowledge the one thing I can’t just cross off a list, and that is spending time with the incredible friends I’ve made here. Because of the busy mode of the last few weeks, making time to socialize has become one of our highest priorities (which Tim loves to remind me when I try to get out of an event.) Still, I keep looking at the calendar to see weekends off, and what my mind first notices is the month of May getting closer and closer. I know I won’t get to spend as much time as I wish with those near me, and I guess that’s just how it goes.
Our lives will change next year, and for as much as we weren’t expecting to go in this direction, I’m thankful for the way we’re embracing the detour and our positive attitude towards whatever complications come our way. Egypt became a home I wasn’t looking for, and even if getting on a plane and seeing the sand disappear in the clouds will be incredibly painful, I am grateful.
Start with a Story 