Sunday, February 3, 2019

Reflections on 2018

     I usually send out Christmas cards every year. I send a picture of my kids and my grandson along with a Christmas letter. This year I did not get to it. Not sure why except I just did not take the time.

     So 2018 has come to an end and my letter will be this blog. I thought about sending out New Years cards but not really sure anyone would appreciate them. I really want to get back to more postal communication and might send out Easter cards...just see what life brings and if the mood strikes me! I know I love to get cards in the mail and to get you have to send them...

     Now on to 2018, it has been a rough year, in some ways harder than others but in other ways not as hard as some...

     I will start off with the one of the best times in 2018 which happened right after we rang in the new year. We went to Disneyland on Jan 3 which is the first time any of us have been during the holiday season and the first time Noah had ever been. It was also the first time in years that my mom, my kids and I had been there together in several years. It was like old times adding new people to the joy! Noah loved it but is a chicken, he was scared of the drops on Pirates and the race on Radiator Springs Racers however he loved Dumbo and was scared of Soarin. He is a bit young so hopefully next time he goes he will love them all. He did love Small World and many other attractions!

     My aunt Ellen was supposed to go on the trip with us but she almost died before the year ended and was still recovering when we rang in the new year. We were thankful to still have her with us after almost losing her due to the horrible doctor she had.

     I survived the last semester of the job from hell...I plan to blog about that sometime but for now have tried to put that experience out of my mind. I want to blog about it someday just because be it good or be it bad it is an experience and a memory. It is something I survived and something that made me stronger...The last part of the semester was actually worst than the first if that is at all possible. I spent many of my lunch breaks in my classroom, in tears, I cried all the way home from work and I fought tears in the morning...it was one of the worst work experiences of my life. I did have a few at work who were supportive and that is what helped me make it through each day. The positive was that I only worked 3 minutes from home...It is sad because there were some great people there but the bad memories are so bad that I just turned my back and walked away form that place with nothing but bad memories.

     I began the summer wondering where I would work, I hoped to find a new teaching position before school ended but didn't. So I spent my summer going to job interviews and I must say some of those were quite an experience of their own. At one job interview the principal, vice principal and head teacher found that their texts were much more important than the interview. It was very rude. Another interview was spent looking at the back of the interviewers computer screens as they seemed uninterested in what I had to say. There was another interview in which the principal did not even show up at all...I did have a few great interviews but did not get the job...so as summer came to an end I was still without work.

     My contract pay ended and I had no new pay...I did get a job offer or so I thought before my old contract ended but as I was preparing for my new classroom and waiting for all of my paper work so I could go in to my new job, I was told they gave the job to someone else. Rather an annoying blow. Then I had an interview for a gifted position and I got it! It was actually just what I was looking for.  The only down to the job is that it was a 2 to 2.5 hour drive to work and longer home each day. I commuted for a month and then found a home closer to my job.

     Another huge change for me is that I moved into an apartment all by myself. The drive to work was rough so I needed to move. I rented an apartment and moved out of the big beautiful home I had been living in since coming to Arizona. My new place is in Gilbert and it is nice. But the move was rough on me emotionally because it is the first time I have ever really lived alone. It also came at a hard time....

     In September my ex husband, Jerry, passed away from illness related to his alcoholism. He left this world not really much aware of what was happening around him. His last few years of life had not been good quality. His death bothered me much more than I thought it would. That is another story...but his story did not end like it should have. He died in a nursing home and had spent the last few years in and out of nursing homes. He should have had a good life but he chose the alcohol.

     Noah spent the summer with us which was great! I still rented a home with Blake and his friend. We had a great summer going to the library, the mall to play, the park and just playing! Noah is such a fun little guy to be with. It was a wonderful summer!

    Disneyland was fun summer 2018 as usual. Noah stayed in Waddell with his dad but hopefully summer 2019 he will go with us.

     My new job has been good. There are things I do not like about it as with any job but for the most part it is great!  I work in a pull out program with gifted kids. Most of my students are amazing!

   

   

No comments:

Post a Comment