What do you want to be when you grow up?

This morning, my mother called me, as is her daily custom, and said, "Why don't you get your teacher's certification?"

Last year, I took a position at a tiny little classical school in Delaware teaching high school Spanish, aiding in a Kindergarten class, and playing the piano for school choirs. All along through college, I had said that I never wanted to teach because I didn't think I would like it or have the patience for it. I took the job last year the Friday before school started a little out of desperation after a whole summer of fruitless job-searching.

As it turned out, I loved my job. I loved teaching. Being in a small school and doing all kinds of different jobs, I got to meet and know all of the kids in the school. And as it turns out, if I do say so myself, I wasn't a bad teacher. I was organized and I could really see the results of my hard work with these kids and their Spanish. They really did learn. My favorite class was Spanish I because those kids went from knowing no Spanish at all to being able to carry on a conversation with me. And, as cheesy as it sounds, it was so rewarding knowing that I helped them get there.

Marrying Brandon meant leaving my job at the school to move to St. Louis and I decided that I wanted to do something different because I don't have a teaching license and we wouldn't be able to live on my salary at a small private school. So I found this job at Liguori and I like it all right; however, I truly miss teaching.

My job here is mostly over the phone whereas my job at the school was face to face interaction with little kids and high schoolers. And as much as I didn't like grading papers and making up tests, the rest balanced it out. And where here, things are so structured and planned, I kind of liked being unsure and planning from moment to moment and living a little bit by the seat of my pants.

Here's the bad news. I am settled in my job here. Getting my teacher's certification would mean quitting my job here to do unpaid student teaching and certification tests. And that means no income for Brandon and I. It is not something that I could do on the side while still working here. And as much as I love teaching, it would be a major career move to do something like that. I have thought about teaching again, perhaps once we have kids and they are in school, but for now, I think I need to stay where I am. At least until Brandon is finished seminary.

I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

*Note: I am taking a counseling class this semester at the seminary and I am pretty excited about it. This explains the mountain of psychological and counseling books that will be appearing here in my entries.*