Wow

I'm awful at this. I know. Is anybody still out there? Let me start out by saying that the reason that I have not blogged is because life has just been too good! I mean...really...good. Just...my cup runneth over...good. There's a lot to update, and I don't know if I can do it all in one sitting, but I'll give you what I can.

Well I moved! It was very hectic. I found out in late May that I would be getting the exact apartment I wanted in the exact location I needed for La Sugarcube to go to the exact school I wanted her to. I then spent the better part of the beginning of my summer packing. And I had a lot of shit to pack. And a lot of shit to throw away. But, thanks to my awesome friends, I got all of that done. It did mean, though, that I didn't have a lot of time to say my goodbyes the way I would have liked to. But, lo and behold, my best friend threw me a fabulous going away gathering so I got to see a lot of people in one place during my last Sunday in NYC. 

Some things are going to sound out of order, but I feel like I have to backtrack in order to give you the full story. In March I went to visit Atlanta for my other best friend's engagement party. During this trip, I just happened to stop by my friend's school to see her students because they were my students' pen pals. During this time, I said I wanted to meet the principal. I didn't want to have a formal interview because I didn't even know if I'd be able to work in that school system, but I did want to let her know that I was looking. Well, she had different plans. When I arrived, she had me sitting in front of herself and another administrator and the lead fifth grade teacher. She interviewed me right there and said that, if she had a spot, she wanted to hire me immediately. Fast forward a couple of months and I get a call from her saying that she wanted to hire me for the upcoming school year as a fourth grade teacher. I was elated. So by the time I was leaving for Atlanta everything seemed to be laid out perfectly. New home. Check. New job. Check. Same boyfriend. Check. It all seemed so sureally divine. That would soon change. 

I got to Atlanta on a Wednesday after driving a majority of the trip while my boyfriend kept me very little company. We had left in the middle of the night. Our plan had been to leave at noon on Tuesday after packing up our belongings in the tiny Uhaul truck. But none of his friends showed up to help us pack the truck as they had promised. So we ended up having to do this ourselves. It took us 6 hours. We then had to drop off the cable box at Time Warner and get something to eat since we hadn't eaten all day. At this point, it was 6 in the evening and I was exhausted. It didn't seem wise to get on the road. So we decided to park the truck and head to his grandmother's house to take a nap. I attempted to park the truck in a covered garage and quickly realized this wouldn't work since I hit the roof upon trying to enter. We then had to drive around to find an open garage to park the truck, take a cab to his grandma's house, and then eat the food we had grabbed on the go. I was beyond done. 

We took a nap, and set out at midnight to get on the road. We were flying and making good time, and then we hit Virginia and everything on the road was at a standstill. I got sleepy and had to take the first, of several, naps on the way down. When we finally got to Atlanta, I was so invigorated! My friend Charla and her husband lovingly cooked us dinner and offered to let us stay at their home for the next two evenings while my apartment got ready. 

The next morning, I woke up early to call the school system so that I could go and get fingerprinted and processed for my new job. I called and was told to come in that afternoon to get my fingerprints done. And then I was called back and told not to come in. No one could tell me why. But I knew that they only did fingerprinting and processing on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I would have to wait until the next week to do so. This was cutting it close because teachers had to report to the school the week after that. So I had a lot to do in very little time before I would have to go to work. My usual 8-week vacation had already been cut short by four weeks because NY gets out at the end of June. I had spent 2 weeks packing. Now one week traveling. And that left me with one week to buy all new furniture and get ready for the school year. It was hectic, to say the least. 

Now another backstory...the school district I was set to work in had just released a lengthy report about cheating in the district. The report included names of 179 individuals that were set to be terminated because of this scandal. Some were teachers, some were principals, some were administrators at a higher level. You would think this meant their positions would then be open and I would DEFINITELY have a job. This was not the case. It ended up putting a snag in my plans because, while these people were set to be fired at some point, they were owed due process. So they were still being paid while they were waiting to find out their fate. So all hiring got put on hold. But, you say, you had already been offered a position. Yes, I say, I had. But the only way I would have been able to waltz through this process was if I had already gotten fingerprinted and signed a contract prior to the end of June. I was still in school in NY. 

So now, here I was in Atlanta with a new apartment, a brand new car (with a brand new car note that had been given to me contingent on me acquiring the job I had been promised), and no job. I freaked the hell out! I spent the better part of the next week at the school of the principal whom had promised me the position trying to figure out a strategy to get me in the system. She was just as upset as I was. She wanted me that badly. By the grace of God (THE GRACE OF GOD...do you hear me?!) a man I used to work with had become a principal since I had moved. He was then given a position of one of the higher administrators whose job was going to be taken because of the cheating scandal. I knew him well. My principal had to go to a meeting with this man to discuss how many teachers she would be able to keep for the upcoming year and how many she would have to take from the system. She then asked if she would be able to hire outside of the system. He told her she would not. She then asked, "well what about Maria Newport?" and his ears perked up. He made sure she was talking about the Maria he knew, and he responded, "oh...you WANT her! She's awesome...and doesn't she have a daughter?" She told him that was the same person, and then told him that I had moved down from NY assuming I had a job and she did not want to leave me hanging. He told her he would see what he do. When she told me that, I emailed him right then and there. I knew it was a long shot. I knew they weren't trying to hire outside of the system before they knew what they were doing with all the people already in the system, but my livelihood depended on this. So I sent him a message asking if I should look at another district because I had bills to pay...immediately. And, in the midst of this scandal, in the midst of all the moving teachers around, in the midst of all the paperwork he had acquired by being put in this position in the middle of this midst, he wrote me back IMMEDIATELY! And told me not to worry. This was Thursday. I was supposed to report to work Monday. 

Now a little more backtracking...my boyfriend, my wonderful boyfriend, the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with, lost his mind. That's the only way I can put it. I was already going through a hectic time. I may not have been as attentive as he needed. He already said I was moody and had an attitude (something he believed before we ever crossed state lines). Whatever the case, one minute we were laughing and joking in Best Buy, the next he was "telling on me" to my mentor and I thought he was insane. I did have an attitude. He was right. I must admit it. I had a lot of resentment. You probably would too if you were taking care of a man your same age financially. But that wasn't his fault. I did it. I'm not apologetic for it. I loved him. I wanted to take care of him. I just didn't know I'd have to do it for as long as I did. Whatever the case, he thought my "attitude" gave him the right to go through my phone. He felt he found something which really was nothing. I told him it was nothing, but he insisted I had a previous relationship with this man. He then told me I had two days to figure out if I wanted to be with him. Um...no...I didn't go through anyone's phone. So I figured HE needed to figure out where HE wanted to be, and when he came to me two days later, I told him I had no answer for him. Because I didn't. Maybe I wanted it to end. It was the fourth or fifth time he had broken up with me over something, so maybe I was tired. Whatever it was, I didn't fight him when he decided to pack up his stuff and leave. 

So...apartment, car, maybe job, no boyfriend. It was a lot...A LOT! But I kept pushing. And what I found is that character can get you through the most trying times. That isn't to say that my character was appropriate throughout it, but that's how you learn the lessons. I found out on that Tuesday that the man I knew had, indeed, come through and I got the job that I wanted. This made me realize that when you leave a place in good standing, people will go to bat for you. And he did just that. That only left me three days to get my classroom together, though. But I did it, and I love my job. I love my kids. I especially love my coworkers. But more of that will come later. 

There will be more updates later. My life has calmed down a bit since then. It took a few months, but I'm finally able to relax...and blog!