Flashback to 2009

Timehop has got me in my feelings today, yall. I absolutely cannot believe that I graduated from COLLEGE seven years ago. I swear that I still put on my "Class of 2009" USC shirt and think of it as "my new Gamecock shirt." I've got to realize that when I wear it, people probably think "wow, she's ancient." Not really, but that's how I'm feeling today. I'm old enough for it to be acceptable to have a kid the same age as my students.

I wish I could say that I had a five year plan when I left college. I didn't. I only knew two things: I wanted to teach and I didn't want to move back home (no offense, mom and dad, keep reading). I interviewed everywhere the sun shined down in the state of South Carolina. I even interviewed at this school built around the same time the dinosaurs roamed the earth in Greenville, SC. They all told me the same thing: "we need a teacher with a little more experience."

That's when I swallowed my pride, moved back in my parents, and took on an interview at a preschool in Fort Mill. They hired me the next day and I started a week later. I literally made about 20 dollars a month. Living with my parents allowed me to save the money I needed to move out a few months later. And a few months after that, I had four (seriously) interviews with YPA and was finally hired on there.

I've officially been with YPA for six years... ever since it opened it's doors. I remember the school kick off carnival in 2010, where I got to meet so many of the wonderful families. I knew I had finally found the place for me. In these six years I've meet some of my closest friends and my husband (hubba hubba), I've been lead teacher, I've traveled to Columbia more times than I can count, I've been to San Francisco, I've taught 132 second graders (not all at once, although I wouldn't put it past state leaders), I've become a part of 132 families, I've cried, I've laughed, I've pictured myself as a stay at home dog mom more than once, but at the end of the day, I know there's nothing else I'd rather be doing.

College was seriously ONE of the best times of my life. A few years ago, I would have said it was the absolute best time of my life. But I know that my life is only just beginning. We're homeowners, puppy parents, and the world is ours. So on that note, here's my three year plan (cause Lord knows I'll be updating this thing three years from today sobbing on my keyboard)

1. Buy a new car (air conditioning would be a plus)
2. Start working on my masters (in what? I don't know... I never said my life was ALL THE WAY TOGETHER).
3. Help grow the Delta Kappa Gamma organization I'm in
4. Start a family
5. Renew my teaching certification
6. Rule the world :)

So if you're reading this today as a new college graduate... you don't have to have the rest of your life planned out. It never truly works that way anyways. Just enjoy the process and have a little fun along the way.


Happy Monday, everybody. Go out there and teach somebody something this week!