"Are you married?" is the first question I was asked when I met my 7th grade OMS kiddos.
"Alabama or Auburn?" was the second.
I couldn't be more single, and I couldn't care any less about roll tide or war eagle (after the kiddos get my answers, they just sit there with a stumped look on their faces as if they don't understand). I am, however, in a committed relationship with Traveling--a beautiful romance that was in full bloom this summer. I've been cheating on that relationship with my new-found love, Teaching, though. If asked, I couldn't even begin to choose between the two.
I've always considered teaching abroad. It's a thought that's been on my brain since high school. I never set it into motion because certain obstacles wouldn't permit it. When I came back from Europe, the whirlwind trip of a lifetime that I still dream about daily, I was pretty much penniless having spent all of my savings there. On a whim, I decided to move to Chattanooga to live and work.
The living part was going fabulously, with all the credit going to Kurt and Mary Zacharias for allowing me to have the option to try Chattanooga on for size. The work part? Not so much. I worked as a barista, as well as a sales associate at Banana Republic. However, I had a hard time landing anything else. I felt pretty much useless not having a purpose except steaming milk, pulling shots, or asking customers through the fitting room door if they needed a bigger size in the $200 pencil skirt they were trying on. One of the only positive sides to my barista job was meeting amazing people, including my current roommate/fellow adventure-enthusiast/greatest friend, Meredith Garrett.
We gave Chattanooga hell, for lack of a better phrase. We road-biked, mountain-biked, cooked, ran, discovered music, ate, hiked, and just took advantage of everything that city had to offer two outdoor lovers such as ourselves. We made plans to sign the lease on a townhome until at the last minute we decided on something completely different.
In the middle of a trail ride about two weeks before the lease was to be signed, I expressed my "homesickness for traveling" to Meredith. I'd done the traveling thing though, and while the relationship was a wildly successful one, I still felt the need for a purpose while doing so. Meredith mentioned teaching abroad, and I mentioned our barista job and the new lease it was barely going to allow us to afford. That's when it hit us--why not just make it happen?
Long story short, we escaped our lease and decided to move to Jacksonville (as much as we hated to admit doing so) to save money due to much cheaper rent. I started substitute teaching once we got settled in which ultimately led to my landing my dream job as a 7th grade English language arts and literature teacher at Oxford Middle School. I never planned on staying, but then I fell in love, which always makes things difficult.
The students had completely and totally captured my heart. After researching for months, we finally found the organization through which we wanted to teach abroad. I decided that I'd rather travel only during the summer months so that I could come back to my kiddos. However, when interviewing for the Thailand position, the year contract was all that was offered. Decisions, decisions.
After much deliberation, I signed the year contract. How could I not? It's the whole reason I even moved back to Alabama. It's something I've dreamed about since high school. And I'm not ready to settle down yet. For anything.
The thought process for this decision making kept me up for nights on end. But when I told one of my closest friends I'd decided to go, he replied, "Well of course you did," like there had never been any other option. And really, he was right.
We leave May 28th for Lampang, Thailand. I have only small ideas of what to expect, but I can't wait. As with most transitions in my life, I'll be sad to leave, but so happy to go. In talking with older generations, I am always told to go and do these things now. I am listening! I've met so many inspirational people while growing up, going to school, in my travels, and now during teaching. All of these people have the common denominator of making amazing things possible.
I want to be one of these people to my kiddos. I want to do all of the fascinating and inspiring things that other people before me have done with which they have impressed me. If I don't do it now, I never will. I may not have the answers to the two most important questions asked here in sweet home Alabama, but really in life, we're not supposed to seek the answers. I think I'll just live the questions. Live everything. Because that's the point of this life afterall, isn't it?
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