My new home
So I guess the fact that I’ve been in STL for a month and half and still haven’t written a blog is a good sign of how I have been keeping busy here. It’s been an interesting month and half. My most recent lesson learned is this: while I should enjoy my wine since I’m not yet pregnant, romantic comedies are just as much torture to watch when my husband is deployed as they were when I was single. I still love my cheesy girl flicks, but I start thinking about the fact that I don’t get a date night for 157 days, and if our prayers are answered, I won’t even get to drink wine on that date night. I’ve learned tonight that I can be busy, but it doesn’t make me forget or stop missing Mark. I can’t wait until this year is over, and we can do date nights whenever we want.
So, what other lessons have I learned since I’ve been here? Retailers won’t hire you if you won’t work over Christmas break. (And this didn’t bother me in the slightest, because getting to spend the 15 days that Mark gets off with him is far more important than making money.) And now that I am in the middle of July I am overwhelmed, having acquired four part-time jobs and thinking about taking a graduate class each semester. I’m still teaching newspaper journalism at Seton…no idea what I am making, but I’m quickly learning it’s going to be more work than I thought. Why did I assign summer writing? I know that it’s important and that it will help out later in the year, but right now, I’m tired of grading.
When I learned that Mark was going to be home for mid-tour leave during Christmas break, I decided to start looking for some part-time teaching jobs again. The glitch was that in 35 days I will be on my way to Europe with my sister-in-law Erin, because I didn’t think that I would be teaching. Turns out St. Mary’s was desperate enough for a 1818 English teacher, and they are willing to work with me. So for job number three, I’m teaching two college credit classes at St. Mary’s High School, and I get six free credits at SLU for teaching them. (Ironically, this is my dad’s alma mater. I did hope to get to spend the year with dad, but I didn’t expect this.) I’m very excited about it, and I’ve had a lot of fun trying to plan out my lessons. Thank goodness for good friends from Borgia, SLU, and Seton…now I have some great materials to give me a starting point with my planning.
Job number three started because I was desperate and didn’t think I would get jobs number two or four. I have started a mini tutoring business, and while I’ve started with family clients, I think that it has the potential to grow a lot. It’s been fun so far, but it’s been a bit more time consuming than I initially expected. I’m glad that it’s so flexible.
And job number four…what is it? It’s the job I thought I had back in January, then thought I didn’t have since I didn’t hear from them—Regis University. I’m in my final state to be an affiliate faculty member. I’m observing the class of a current affiliate faculty member who is AWESOME. I had the best conversation and e-mails with him in the last week. I’m really excited to be working with and learning from him. I was supposed to be in his in his Exceptional Child in the Regular Classroom, but last night he switched me into his Educational Psychology class. I have to teach the week that focused on Motivation, which I’m much more eager to delve into than anything that would come up in the Exceptional Child class.
World’s cutest 2-year-old: My niece Maggie!
So, on top of all of this, I’ve also managed to get the house unpacked (just waiting on the bedroom furniture that I ordered in May to get here at the end of the month), sent four or five care packages to Mark, made a whirlwind trip to Chicago to help my sister find a house, had three of my sibling-in-laws stay with me, had Colleen, her almost two-year-old Maggie, and her three-month-year old Connor here for five days. Seeing family has kept me busy, and I’ve had so much fun. I’ve also made it to my nieces’ dance recital, gone to two Cardinals games with great Borgia friends and my big sis Mary Pat, hosted my first BBQ at my house for Colleen, and I’ve gotten to see Brian, Diane, and Leah, too.
Having a full house and seeing so many family members has been great, but one person has been missing—Mark. It’s hard to feel like my heart is torn. I love St. Louis. I love the people, the disgusting humid weather (only because I know it will turn into a beautiful fall), and the exciting job and school opportunities I have; I just wish I had my husband here, too.
