Practice What You Teach

 I can hardly believe my youngest little sister is graduating. I pretty vividly remember the day Abby was born. It was my first week of second grade, and I remember walking into my classroom and yelling to my teacher at the top of my lungs, "MY MOM IS HAVING A BABY!" I loved school, but on this particular day I could hardly wait for it to be over so that I could go to the hospital and meet my newest little sister. I probably would have leapt off the school bus while it was still moving if the bus driver would have let me.  Our seven year age gap has given me the chance to really watch Abby grow up. She has always had a feisty personality from the time she was little, and she's never been afraid to stand up for herself or fight for what she wants. I remember one time when she was probably 6 or 7, Amy and I were babysitting her while my mom was somewhere with Jenn. She wasn't behaving, so we decided that since we were in charge we needed to give her a time out. Sh...

 My whole life, I have loved to read. I love getting lost in a story, and following along as it comes to life. When I close each book I read after finishing the last chapter, I'm always met with this sort of empty feeling. Until of course I remember that I have at least three more books stashed underneath my bed waiting to be read. Thus, a new chapter and a new story quickly take shape. This feels like a metaphor of sorts for what the last couple of weeks have been like. Each chapter of my life has been amazing in it's own unique way, but this particular chapter, these past three years teaching at two amazing schools and getting to know, teach, and love a total of 82 students, will always be near and dear to my heart. Thus, it has been a particularly difficult chapter to close. For starters, this chapter gave me the chance to start my career by living out my lifelong dream of becoming a teacher. It has been so much more amazing, hard, sweet, challenging, demanding, wonderf...