Like all of us there have been times in my life in which I actually wondered, "Will I get through this, and how?"
In the late 80s I decided to return teaching, and to apply in the county in which we lived and where our three teenaged children were in school. Being on the same schedule would make things a lot easier. I had let my certification lapse and so had to take 33 credits to be re-certified. While taking these classes at Loyola and Johns Hopkins I was also long-term subbing in a Baltimore County middle school for a friend out on maternity leave. Taking all this on was an, shall I say, 'energetic' decision on my part.
But I did it. There were times I was so tired that I got onto the Baltimore Beltway going in the wrong direction. Blessedly, I have a husband who is a wonderful co-parent, and our kids helped out a lot.
What I did not expect however, was my reception by Human Resources in the county in which I lived. My interviews went well; and I got enthusiastic feedback. The head of the department had said, "If you get an offer from another county, don't sign; let me know immediately". I did, and I did. The response was shattering. "Teachers like you are a dime a dozen", and even more heart-breaking, "I wouldn't hire you if you were the last teacher on Earth."
Winded from the punch and devastated, I did not know how to come back from this or to even understand what had happened; what I had done to provoke this?
One day when I was feeling particularly down, I grabbed a CD and heard this:
It look me a good while to recuperate. I accepted a job in Baltimore County, but decided I would apply for a job in my county every year for the rest of my life. just out of principle. Three years later I got the job I wanted at my dream school, and became department head. I retired from teaching in 2007.
I went home by another way.
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