Beyond the #$%^ It.

All right, I have to laugh, this was really the last thing I expected to find in this book, although really it makes sense. I've been at that point in my life, and thankfully, like the cellist in the book, it worked to my advantage.

I had spent the previous 4 years working in a building as a building substitute. I worked everyday in the same building and when I was needed in a classroom, I was in. When I wasn't needed, I worked with small groups of students in all the grades.  The problem was, I made minimal money and had no benefits or contract. The last year I was in that position, I was asked to be a second teacher in a third grade SAGE classroom that was seriously over "capacity."    I should have been given a contract like a regular teacher, or at the least been considered a long term sub, but I wasn't. The administration had interviewed me a few times for various positions, but I was always passed up for the job. I was too good at what I was doing as a building sub. It was disheartening.

I was on vacation that summer with my family in Vail, CO. We were visiting my brother out there for the first time. It's beautiful out there. I had been applying to various districts around where we lived and we were in the middle of a serious hunt for our first house. I got a call from a principal in Kenosha for an interview, she wanted me in the next day and I was 1200 miles away.  She offered me a phone interview and I took it. I was BTFI.  I went for it and put it all out on the line. She thanked me and asked if I'd be available the next morning for a second interview. I figured, what the hell?  Why not, I've gone this far. So I had the second interview and we took the day to drive up the mountain.  My phone had no signal, so I couldn't have taken the call if she called to turn me down. We returned and my husband and I went with my two brothers to have a drink together. My phone beeped in my pocket and I knew this was my call. It was my answer.

I listened to the voice mail and there was the principal, offering me A JOB!!! My first real classroom and first real position. Not that what I was doing before wasn't real,  but this was a classroom.  four years in the waiting and I finally had what I want.

Going beyond the #$%^ it was worth it. It gave me the job I wanted, and my husband and I bought our house in Kenosha. It's all been uphill from there.