Today was a pretty bittersweet day. Heart-wrenching and plain old easy at the same time. Today… was my last day of calling myself a teacher.

I take that back.

I can’t say that with full heart. I will always be a teacher. Ya, so, maybe my job title is changing to a stay-at-home-mom (read post here), but I am proud to still say I’m a teacher. Or I was a teacher. I don’t know, it’s still confusing.

But it took me to step back and quit this position to realize how much I really really loved and appreciated my job. Sometimes you get caught up in the day to day life of work and get into such a routine you don’t recognize how important and valuable your job is, but these past few weeks of teaching have reminded me how lucky I am to have been a teacher and how much I absolutely loved my job. Teaching is such an admirable job and I have had some of the best years of my life in my classroom.

Reading (and crying over) this news article this weekend (news article here, or same post from her blog here) about how a mom of a middle schooler thanks teachers for doing things when no one is looking and admiring teachers all around, made me again, appreciate that I was able to be in a career that had such advantages and the ability to change children’s lives. It’s those moments behind your classroom door when you bond with a student and know you’ve made a positive impact in their life that make it all worth it. Those a-ha moments that spark a student’s mind into another stratosphere are the absolute best. And there are always those handful of students that you create that very very special bond with and place in your heart each year. That’s what I will miss the most.

The students.

Being that role model when a student so desperately needs one. Being there for them to teach them not only subject matter, but character traits, life skills, social skills, and so much more … teachers really are incredible people. That news article I read could have been about each and every teacher that worked at Edison, and in fact, probably every school out there. Teachers are the guiding light for your children. My children someday too. And know that they are soooo well taken care of. Teachers are the parents away from home. We love your children and simply want the best for them.

Now, I’m moving on to my new job. My children need me and I want my full heart and mind to be there for them. I want to be their teacher, their guiding light, their role model. Today was difficult saying goodbye, it’s like that awful breakup, the one where you know it’s for the best to move on, but it’s just so hard to actually do it. That one. You cry, and you’re thankful for the time you had together, and you say your goodbyes, and you move on to something different, your heart pulling in two different directions. That’s how it felt today. I appreciate each day I have spent as a teacher in my last eight years, but it’s time to say goodbye, and time to move on to what I see myself as now. Simply calling it, the mother to our children.

The best job in the world…