Is This the Real Life...

Mood:  "is this just fantasy?"  exhausted...happy...motivated






When I was in kindergarten my teacher, Mrs. Aleck, was everything that I...as a 5 year old girl...wanted to be in life.  She wore "clinking heels" and "swishing dresses."  She smelled wonderful...not like a mommy...but it was a comforting and womanly scent.  Mrs. Aleck always had her hair done and make-up on.  She hugged and laughed and played with her students.  I've never forgotten her.  Or the impact she had on my life.  So it's not hard to believe then that as a little girl I wanted to be a teacher.  I wanted to be that teacher.  The one that made a difference.  The one that people remember fondly years later.   


22 years later and I find myself working at a daycare center.  I applied for the position for a few reasons.  The primary reason was that the ONLY thing I really wanted out of a job was satisfaction...which for me I'm sure to get if I'm working with children.  So...daycare it was.  When I interviewed I couldn't help but fall in love with the kids walking around the center.  The teachers seemed so happy and the care and love for the children was evident.  The care, love, respect, adoration...it just gets more intense every single day that I spend with the children.  


Which brings me to today.  The pre-kindergarten teacher was ill.  I was the lucky one who got to fill in.  Those kids made my entire week.  Even though they only stay for the morning and I had just over 4 hours with them...it was awesome.  As I sat in the teacher's chair and sang their morning songs and figured out the date and weather with them...I couldn't help but feel like I was a 10 year old again playing teacher.  I kept getting the urge to pinch myself even though I knew it was real life.


Which got me thinking.  It wasn't just today that I got the urge to pinch myself.  It's every day that I wake up.  I want to pinch myself every morning that I wake up next to Jeff.  Even just looking over at him while watching television at night...I just can't get over the fact that this is my life. I am married.  I am a mommy.  I am a member of a new family.  And now?  I am a teacher.  I'm not just a daycare worker...I have the pleasure of really teaching these children.  Of preparing them for school.  It is an awesome responsibility and a complete joy.  


As I sit here waiting for the husband to come home so we can eat dinner (yes it's almost 8.30 pm) I can't stop smiling.  I am so insanely blessed.  I don't really WANT to pinch myself...but I can't get beyond thinking that I'll wake up someday in  my apartment in Early snuggling my stuffed bear and smiling from this wonderful dream.