2011

Huh.. Not a single post in 2011.  OK, I'll make this my Christmas letter, sans Christmas. :-)

2011 was an unbelievable year.  I got used to being divorced, finished my degree, graduated, got my dream job, and became engaged to Stan, my perfect, amazing, incredible, unbelievable man.  That's the short version.

I began my student teaching in January, and wow, was it difficult!  I had a scare about a week before I graduated that brought up the question if I was going to graduate at ALL, but got the situation worked out and got my degree, a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Secondary Education.  I finished the requirements certifying me to teach Biology and Physical Science.  I intend to also get the certification in Chemistry.  I recently got my degree certificate framed, and I have such a great time looking at it on the shelf in my dining room.  I finally have a real degree!

After graduating, I moved back down to the Magic Valley (Wendell and Hagerman will ALWAYS be where my heart is) and stayed with Mom and Dad for the summer.   Mom had major reconstructive back surgery and I was glad to have the opportunity to help her out.  She went from being barely able to walk into stores from the car to walking over 4 miles a day.  The miracle of modern medicine constantly amazes me.

 Thanks to my Aunt Lesli, and her friend who is a realtor, in the space of about 10 minutes, I found a perfect, adorable house that I immediately fell in love with. I am renting it now, but I hope to buy it sometime in the future, if everything works out right.  Here's a few pictures of it:

 The front of the house looks so small, but once you go inside, it doesn't feel little at all.  The entrance and dining room, plus the hallway and bedrooms are all gorgeous hardwood.  The living room  is an addition that is HUGE!  I had to raid my parents' basement for furniture to fill it up!  I still need a dining room table & chairs, but my foldaway table is filling the bill for now. I think I want a round dining room table, so anyone who sits at it feels like they are included in my family.




Even the back doesn't look like the house has a lot of interior space! (right) However, here's a picture of the addition that contains the living room.  Those windows are fabulous! (below)



During the summer, I looked for teaching positions all over the Magic Valley.  My master plan was to find SOME sort of teaching position here, then eventually try to squeeze into Wendell to teach.  There were Physical Science spots open in Gooding, Buhl, and Filer.  The one in Gooding filled almost immediately, so I applied for the one in Filer and prepared to apply to Buhl.  The morning I had my interview scheduled at Filer, I got there and was informed by the principle that they had filled the position that morning.  I was crushed!  I was very disappointed until he told me "But you should go call Wendell, because we just hired their Physical Science teacher away from them."  No more crushed...I was so excited to have the opportunity to apply at Wendell!

I gave the exiting teacher a day to put in her resignation, then showed up at WHS the next day, application in  hand, ready to tell them that I wanted them to keep it on file.  Instead, I was set up with an interview a few days later, and was offered the job less than a week after I discovered it was open.  I'm sure the patrons at the little diner Stan and I were eating at in Oregon on the way to Jill's wedding thought I was a little odd after I got that call!

Oh yeah, my baby sister got married!  Woot!  I towed Stan along as my date and we had a fabulous time driving across Oregon.

I started school at the end of August, and I'm having a fabulous time!  My goal for this year is to get used to being a teacher, not make too many mistakes with my students' education, and LEARN a lot!   I love teaching Physical Science.  I even love teaching Freshmen!  My favorite thing so far this year was inviting my entire class (extra credit offered) to my house at 5:30 in the morning for a Lunar Eclipse party.  I had students starting to show up at 4:00am!  I cooked muffins, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, and french toast for them.  Apparently my french toast is AMAZING.  I also had a 'coffee bar' that included all sorts of stuff to make mochas, lattes, and even grate chocolate chips on their whipped cream! I have a whole bunch of pictures of them that morning, but I'm not going to post them here on a public blog.  I had 35 students in my house!  Two of them brought game consoles, so we hooked them up and they had breakfast.  They instantly figured out how to hook their ipods to my stereo, and we had a full fledged freshman party going on.  Every 15 minutes or so I'd yell "OUTSIDE!" and they'd all troop outside to take a look at the progression of the eclipse.  I had students staying until almost 11am.

The hardest part of the year came at the very end.  I sent my man to Afghanistan at 6:30 Christmas morning.  I have never had such a hard time letting someone go.  He will be away for a year, and I am having a hard time adjusting to all the concerns, feelings, and loneliness that comes when you have sent the person you want to spend your life with to a war zone.

I did appreciate that I was able to go with him through airport security all the way to his gate.  Active Duty military travelling in uniform can take family with them through TSA security.  I will always be so grateful for that last half hour I could be with him before he had to leave.  When I was a kid, whenever we saw someone off at the airport, we always stayed until their plane took off, and watched them fly away.  I haven't been able to do that in over a decade because of the changes in security.  It was so amazing to be able to do that for the man I love.  I stayed and watched as his plane rolled away from the gate, then watched as it roared past and lifted into the air.  I felt like my life was leaving with him.

I left the airport and went home to spend the rest of Christmas with my family.  I am so lucky to have the most wonderful set of relatives on the planet.  They made a hard day much easier.  Just enough sympathy, with the perfect amount of levity thrown in to make the day bearable for me.  I love you all so much.

When I got home from spending Christmas with my family, I had a very hard time keeping it together.  Mostly because *someone* had hidden little notes for me all over my house.  I've found them in the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, garage, and utility room.  Every one has brought a fresh set of tears and a renewed sense of joy that I have someone in my life who cares that much for me.  For those of you who know, you will understand what I mean when I say he treats me like my Dad treats my Mom.  Isn't that a dream come true?  I have never been so happy, and I am looking forward to every day I can talk to him, and then every year I can spend my life with him.

Since then, I've come to know that Skype is the greatest invention man has created.  I can see my love and best friend; talk to him as if he was sitting in the next room, all from a distance of over 7,000 miles.  Baby, I love you and miss you. (yours)