9) First Day at a New Job

Today is officially my first day at my new job, no benefits, the pay is lousy and the hours are ridiculous but it is by far the best job I have ever had. For the last 10 years I have been an art teacher and I loved my job. However with two kids, a husband with a busy job, daycare, illness and all the other normal challenges of a working parent it started to seem to me that loving my job wasn't enough of a reason. So at the end of last year I made the decision to stop teaching and stay home with my two little girls. While my last day of teaching was in June it wasn't until today that it really hit me. Today is the first day of school, I haven't missed a first day of school since before kindergarten, so to not go to the first day of school seems really weird. I am thrilled to be able to stay home with my girls. Even in the day to day I can see what an amazing time this is in their lives and I am glad to be here for every moment of it. Yet today when all my friends are setting up their classrooms and planning exciting lessons, I am realizing that the hardest thing about being home is not having collegues. Someone to brainstorm with, someone to bounce ideas of off or share with when things go really well or really badly. So today on my first day at my new job I am officially starting this blog. I am hoping that it will be a place for me to share my ideas with others and for others to share their ideas with me. I am hoping to find some good new coworkers out there.