Life is but a Journey
You know that time of year — When you start seeing school supplies roll out on pallets, put neatly on displays — folders, backpacks, lunchboxes, crayons.. the rows seem to go on and on! Awaiting an eager child or some cases, parents (ready for summer to be over already 😅) carts full of anticipation!
It was a time I loved — the learner in me, the excited organizer in me, fresh 5 Star notebooks (all sizes, all colors!) waiting to be written in!!
It was also a time I loathed — the anxious heart and mind, the mundane of learning new people and spaces and time — My God! The time management.. homework, group projects, tests, math!! 🫠
Graduated with honors. Enrolled in college. Sprouted out of my cocoon, wings of a social butterfly. (Imagine that, a wallflower into a glorious butterfly!)
Dropped out. (Another story for another day, friends.)
Returned to school — in a different form — 3 different times and 2 different places.
All these possibilities -and never once dreamed of cleaning schools.
(But here I am — looking back on my journey of finding a niche of mine — Cleaning!)
I’m now in a better place where the grass is greener because they water it…no matter which side the totem pole you’re on. My spirit is seen, I am valued and cared for.
I learned and unlearned a lot about myself in this season. I came fresh from an 8 year period of my life working in a factory. 8–12 hr days, the occasional 13–16 hrs depending on the department. Mandatory overtime. (Also another story for another time…😅) lowest valley I had ever remembered being in- some faults of my own doing, some not….But I digress — I was able to push myself further than I ever did before changing jobs again. To heal, get my mind right. Get my life back on track. Find ME again. Get this weight off me — literal, mental, spiritual — heavy baggage I’d been carrying for faaaarrrrr too long.
I started a chiropractic journey as well. Changed how and what I was eating. Walked an average of 4 to 6 miles A DAY! (On these lil legs, mind you! Wooo girl! 😅) Bought noise canceling headphones, sometimes just to listen to the white noise (life saver hack for overstimulation!). Listened. Prayed. Found new music. Love found me. Started reading more, dabbled in studying gemstones and bees! Reigniting my spark — for life, for words, for art, for photography.
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While working in this school — In one of my kindergarten classrooms there was a piece of art — Ohhh, I tell you! Don’t know what it was for or how it got there but it was as if it were made for ME and all I had been through to get to that very moment in time, space, cognition — a giant crumpled red heart with bandaids!
This side of the experience was sooooo worth every pair of Timberland wheats I ruined, shoe insoles wore out, ugly hot polos I wore, every floor I helped strip and wax, every salting of a sidewalk, learning how to use a snowblower, people I wanted to cuss out but couldn’t, tears of frustration I’d cried, tiredness I had….
When I knew in my heart my time was coming to an end at this school, this experience- I wrote them a letter.
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Dear Creekside,
My Cocoon/Chrysalis! This is a special place! It’s a place where we invest in people, a place to encourage, a place of positive goals, a place of laughter and smiles, a place for a serving heart, a place to be heard, a place to learn and coach, a place of perspective, purpose, creativity, comfort and care.
Eighty Five pounds down!!! Healing from the inside out. Shedding this covering has been so refreshing to my soul in many ways!! To those I have grown to know — A Big Thank You (staff, students, PTO, bus drivers, Tom especially! Edit: Dave too!)my wings are ready and feel very prepared for life’s next trip. Bittersweet but I must go….You will be missed! I am forever grateful for this side of the working experience.
Sincerely,
Miss Misty
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Life is but a journey, friends. And what a journey this is!
