Nicole feels

Gosh, has it already been like two weeks since I updated? Where does the time go?

Oh, yeah, to those little things called a full-time teaching job, wifehood and motherhood, household organization (how many boxes do we still have to unpack!?!?), a sprinkling of church activities, and those few stolen hours of sleep each night.

Actually, overall things are going much better. I was given those three days of leave, and though I didn't get near as much done around this place as I'd hoped, it did bundles for my sanity, or relative lack thereof.

I am still not exactly lovin' the teachin'-full-time-gig. But I believe it is what I need to do right now. I don't necessarily have to love it, or even like it, but it is what it is, and it's where I am supposed to be for this season.

Next year...well, next year, I will be a bit more aggressive concerning what I will and will not do. What's done is done now, but next year I won't be so naive.

Rob and I have realized that for two folks who abhor politics, we've been plunked smack dab in the middle of a church full of it. I guess that happens when you are in a state that prides itself in its first-ness, not to mention a church with a history back to the 1800s.

It's not all bad, though, honest. Many of the folks here are pretty cool. My emotional breakdown seems to have, in some small way, helped speed up the process of bringing the school's computer lab into the 21st century; 22 new laptops are enroute. The teacher who at first seemed to be my nemesis is now my best ally. And they actually like, and watch, football in this town.

So, as we are feeling our way about, we are finding that where there is a barred front door, there is often a back window opened just a smidge.

And sometimes, that's all one needs.