Hitherto, prior to, so far, thus far-yet

So I haven't written a blog in a while, I don't feel like going back and looking because I'm typing this on my phone because we had to cancel our suddenlink service yesterday, because they suck, and we have no internet. I want to say the last one was me announcing that I would not be returning to Holy Cross or camp. I stated many reasons in that blog for making that decision, all of which were true. However, I omitted a few, well one big one to big exact. Anyone who knows me knows that I love teaching math and I love to travel. My students would say that I love three things: math, baseball and winning. But in the last four years, travel has worked its way onto the top of the list. I had a conversation last fall with a fellow teacher about traveling and teaching and he suggested the Department of Defense Education Activity. I wasn't sure what that was, so I started looking it up. Basically, the government hires teachers to go to their military bases around the world to teach the children of the military men and women who are stationed there. I probably looked at the website for a week before I started filling out the application. I only told one person the next day that I had done it, mostly because I didn't think my chances were that good and I just felt like being excited about a new opportunity for a while. As I filled out the application, I needed references so I contacted a few teachers from "my past" and talked to my two current administrators. I started to get into, so I decided to tell my parents, then my roommate, because this would surely have an effect on her. Then I just waited. I would check back into the website every now and then, but it said most of the hiring would take place in July or Auguat. Which made me nervous about a few things. If I were to get this job I didn't want a technicality to hold me back, as that's happened before. So I decided to give Holy Cross enough time to find someone to take my place. So I quit. Then I heard nothing from the DODEA. So I started making back up plans. The prospect of me getting a job with them faded into the background. Until one day when I got an email from someone at the school on Maxwell Air Force Base. I'll never forget that day. I was shocked. I was flabbergasted. I was excited, a few people who saw me that day got to hear about the opportunity because at that point I didn't care who knew. I scheduled a phone interview during the family vacation to Colorado and started preparing for the types of questions they would ask. After the shock wore off, I didn't want anyone new to know, I was worried that if too many people knew about it, I wouldn't get it. I would have to tell a bunch of people, again, that I didn't get the job. I didn't want that. So I had the interview and was certain that I bombed it. So I went back to my back up plans, especially after over two weeks of not hearing anything. Before I say anything, let me just say that everyone needs someone like Darla Mueller in their lives.Someone who is eternally optimistic and encouraging. I started hearing back from the school again after over two weeks, and the roller coaster began. I told a few more people about the opportunity and started making plans for when the time came that I needed to make a decision. I knew that if I was offered the job, I would accept it. I needed to, I had to. It wouldn't be easy, but I just felt, and still feel, that this is what I'm being called to do. It isn't going to be easy to leave the life I have in Amarillo but there are things waiting for me outside of Amarillo. Once I accepted it, I started to think of the things that I would miss doing just on a regular basis here. Lunch runs with Tim, wine nights with Baylie, Friday lunches with the lunch crew, Sunday dinners with the family, movie dates with the niece and nephews, random cookouts at Teresa and Matt's, weekend trips to Albuquerque and so many other little things. But then I just think about all the cool places I could have the opportunity to see, the people I will meet. This gives me the opportunity to possibly share my love of math with children around the world. How could I not share my gifts, especially when it meant I got to travel the world at the same time. Logistically, it has not been easy to move somewhere that I have never been but things have been falling into place in a way that help me know for certain that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. For example, my roommate Baylie is moving back to Kansas about a week after I am. So, if you were at my party at Holy Cross at the end of the school year, I made a speech and left a subtle hint at this possibility. I said something like "I'm not leaving the country YET." And I'm not..not yet anyways. :)