life beyond the well…

Tag Archives: North Carolina


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One Year Down…

It’s summer, and as the title indicates, I’ve gotten one year down/under my belt on the peanut field.  Looking back, I definitely feel that I made the right decision to move back to NC.

You see, this time last year, I had just signed a lease at my new “apartment” in Roanoke Rapids.  I was missing my apartment near the beach in Florida, as well as my Miami friends and the culture of Miami.  At the same time, I was glad to be closer to home, closer to my family and back to a place where for me, things made sense.  Miami was fun, but not the best fit.

Roanoke Rapids is a temporary stop on the journey.  But after this year, I have learned so much and have grown so much personally and professionally.  I definitely feel that I’m on the way to making my dreams come true.

During this past school year, I taught 8th grade Government/Economics to the Pride of 2014 at KIPP: Gaston College Preparatory.  While I’m sure they learned at lot (at the VERY least, they ALL can tell you the Preamble to the US Constitution and explain each of the amendments within the Bill of Rights, as well as explain Supply and Demand, market, traditional, and command economies, and personal finance), I learned more.  I think that part of the reason that children exist is to teach us how to love, forgive, and have patience.  The Pride of 2014 are my babies, and I’m proud to be joining them at the high school next year.

Yep!  I’ll be moving on up to the high school.  Not as a teacher, but as a college counselor.  Through much prayer, I realized that while I love being in the classroom, working as a college counselor is a better use of my gifts and talents.  I’m excited to be joining the KIPP: Pride High School staff just across the peanut field.

With any new position, there’s a huge learning curve, so I’m spending a good portion of my summer reading information and books about college admissions, as well as trying to get to know the students that I’ll be working with.  It stands to be an exciting year.

I imagine that if I had to give this past year a theme, it would be “perseverance”.  There were many things that I had to overcome and press through, but despite those challenges, God has been faithful and I have been blessed.

Until next time…


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Adjusting

One thing that I know about myself is that I don’t really handle change well.  While I’m always excited about the possibility of change, and I realize that change is really the only constant, that still doesn’t give me the ability to handle it well.

I believe that I’m pretty resilient, and surprisingly, pretty flexible.  So, changes in my work environment or within the context of relationships don’t bother me too much (unless they are EXTREME changes).

All that said, it’s still an adjustment to be in North Carolina.  While I’m glad to be back, anytime that you move you have to make the necessary changes.  I feel like the last two weeks have had me in a frenzy of getting everything set up and turned on, and now that all of those things are taken care of I’m just left to my own devices (also known as unpacking).

As much as I was ready to move back to North Carolina, I miss elements of my life in Florida.  And although I’ve been out of Georgia for a year, I miss elements of my life there as well.

I think that what I miss most is having that core group of people there to support me.  Twitter and Gchat can only provide so much encouragement.  While I know there’s a difference between being alone and being lonely, I feel like I’m walking that line.

I’m sure that as I begin work and school, things will pick up and I’ll be too busy to think about things like this.  But until then…it is what it is, I suppose.