Meet Kelley.
She looks like Reese Witherspoon, doesn’t she? She totally does. In addition to being ridiculously pretty and having excellent taste in “car party” music, she’s also my second guest blogger! Kelley and I went to high school together, but we became close friends in college. Kelley is a teacher and has the best (by best I mean most ridiculous, insane, unbelievable, endearing, and laugh out loud funny) stories from the schools – especially the so-called sketchy inner city ones – she’s worked in. We’ve had many a memorable slumber party with our third musketeer Emily and tasteless movies, ice cream cupcakes, girly drinks, a night in downtown San Antonio dancing ourselves silly, and plenty of good clean Christmas break holiday entertainment fun. She’s a blast, and here she is!
Today is a big day. It is my 20th first day of school. It started pretty much the same as the first-first day of school (kindergarten). I arranged my supplies neatly, laid out a brand-new outfit, packed my lunch carefully, and didn’t sleep a wink. It’s really amazing no matter how much you grow up, how much actually stays the same. I, as a grown-up, go to a place that I went everyday as a kid- I go to school. Today was my 5th first day as a teacher, and boy, those days are NUTS. Finding your classes on a middle school campus as a student is NOTHING compared to being the teacher of 15 crying kindergarteners, crying parents, and all the preparation that goes into a new school year. But, it is so incredibly worth it. I love the fact that I get to look at a bright shiny boxes of Crayola crayons, markers and colored pencils (NOT map pencils) every August and bargain hunt for them like an extreme couponer. What is even more amazing every first day of school is looking out on 20-some odd pairs of eyes and seeing amazing little people, with dreams and hopes and ambitions. I don’t want to make this sappy and corny, and it wasn’t nearly as funny as I wanted, but just know this: Teaching on the “wrong” side of town is the best thing I’ve done in my life.
– Kelley
