Nostalgia

I am sitting in a hotel in Omaha Nebraska reflecting back on my last few days in Minnesota.  That is such a bittersweet thought for me. To know that I am not sure when I will be back. My family moved to Minnesota when I was 4. I grew up in a place that was actually pretty great. I began planning to leave in March, for 9 months I have been working on all the things that needed to happen, and it was never very far from my mind that this would be my last year in Minnesota.   I would be driving somewhere and would hit me that I would not see it again after this year, I would say to myself that this is the last spring that I was going to be there, the last summer and the last school year. I started to look at my hometown a little differently. It was so easy to just overlook all that there is there. I have been so blessed by all that I have been able to do and experience. I had access to so much, the Minnesota Orchestra, The Minneapolis Museum of Art, cuisine from around the world, beautiful parks, thousands of lakes, beaches, biking trails, cultural events and so many that I can't even name them all. I often wonder if I will settle in a place that can even compare to it.

On friday I went into work and it hit me that I would be unemployed at 3:00. I have had continuous employment for the past 11 years. Over half of that time has been spent at a middle school.  It became more than just a job. I never dreaded going into work. I loved just about every minute of my time there. That really was a huge influence on shaping me as an adult. I began there as a young adult just barely out of my teens, I was not much older than the students that i was working with and through that time I discovered who I am as a person. I learned so much, not only about teaching and instructing but about myself and what I was capable of doing.

I know that God has been preparing me through out these years to become who I am, every single moment in my life has been leading to exactly where I am now. In this hotel room beginning a new part of my life, every decision I have made, every event that taught me about who I am has been guided by the hand of God.

  I have been the one saying goodbye all these years as people have moved on and here I am the one that is going on to new adventures.
I have been so incredibly blessed by the people in my life and I know that I will never forget them. There are people who have come and gone and people that I will know forever. People who have shown me love and compassion and I know that I can never replace them in my heart.

And as I drove through Eagan for the last time, I realized that I would be leaving a little piece of my heart in the midwest.