Happy Birthday…..

It was the first week of Feb. 1995. I just started a new teaching job. K-5. My daughter was 14 months old and I had just come off of a job working midnights for 9 years!

I went to my husband and discussed with him my need for quitting that job. It was scaring me. I was so tired and trying to keep a watchful eye on a toddler? I had to become very creative in ways to keep her safe in case I fell asleep.

A neighbor told me about the pre-school she was working at. They needed a new K-5 teacher. The current teacher was going out due to a difficult pregnancy. The joke here is  that it was the third teacher they had for that class. Everyone felt that class was jinxed.  If you wanted to become pregnant….take the K-5 class.

I  quit my computer job making $21/hr (included differential pay) for a job making $6.50/hr. For what I lost in pay, I gained in peace of mind. I can remember some mornings feeding my daughter’s ear. I would close and lock all the bedroom doors in our apartment. Put a gate up in the hallway and sleep right in front of her door with an alarm to go off every hour so that I could check on her. We would also try to get in some play time. Then I would sit there and nap again. I took alot of short little naps. If you have ever worked midnights you all ready know how difficult that shift is on a person’s body.

I can clearly remember sitting in the hallway crying because I was so exhausted yet too afraid to go to sleep with my toddler. I imagined every possible scenario and tried to implement ways of keeping her safe in case I fell asleep. I was elated when I was finally called in for an interview.

I  was  finally offered the job. They didn’t want to offer me the teachering position due to what I was making in my previous position (which I had begun to hate). I started teaching the first week of February. I had also been having some pain and discomfort in my right side so I had a doctor’s appointment that week.