Looking Forward, Looking Back

I've decided to reconnect with the blogosphere and begin chronicling the last leg of my undergraduate experience as a pre-service teacher.

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Over the last few weeks, my thoughts have been increasingly reflective in nature, focused on the busy year ahead--my last semester of undergraduate classes this fall, my impending student teaching in the spring, and my last "free" summer before I begin my first year of teaching. I have a very demanding semester beginning in less than 4 weeks (18 hours including a practicum and 8 classes). I will then make a transition from Lincoln, where I have lived for the last 8 years, to Omaha to student teach and begin my professional career. In May I will FINALLY graduate from college in May, and then I have to make some "big girl" decisions. I guess I'll be making "big girl" decisions all year. Should I stay in Omaha to teach? What districts should I apply to work at? Should I apply for Teach for America? Should I begin a master's program so I can increase my income bracket? And the questions go on and on and on....

Life is chock-full of decisions. Looking back, I've been independently making (good and bad) decisions that majorly impact my life since I graduated from high school back in... well, a while ago. This year is no different. I wouldn't be where I am or who I am without all of the good and bad decisions I've made. I feel that the decisions that I will be making soon will have a more immediate impact on my life. Things are moving a lot faster than I remember them moving over the last 8 years. I didn't think I'd be in a position to have accomplished so many of my life goals. I feel like my young adulthood is shedding and I'm officially entering into adulthood.

There's no turning back. Am I ready? Heck no. Am I up to the challenge? YES! There really is no telling what this year will bring. The one thing I can be sure of is that things will work out, but probably not in the way I expected them to. I am hopeful and excited about what the future will bring, but I'm not going to put too much stock into sticking closely to my plans since things will often be outside of my control. I will try not to spend too much time looking back into the past, or forward into the unknown, but I will try to live each moment as it comes.

Bring it on.