Six weeks ago I made the decision to completely transform the life I had made for myself. After twelve years of full-time classroom teaching, two rounds of graduate school, and six years in Third Grade I applied for and was granted a year-long sabbatical from my school. I signed away the title of my decade-old Saturn to a towing-company employee named Walter underneath a freeway overpass one Friday night, I moved out of the stylish well-priced apartment in my cute San Francisco neighborhood, I put everything I own into storage with the exception of two duffels filled with playclothes and sunscreen shoved into the back of a borrowed Subaru, I spent time everywhere from coffee shops to sushi bars to the American terminal at SFO saying farewell to my dearest friends, and I am off to travel the world.
Ever since I met Zack and heard his stories of years overseas I knew I would do it; I just never knew when or with whom. Should I have gone earlier, should I have waited longer? Should I take someone with me, should I go alone? I wrestled with all these questions and finally realized Amanda was right when she taught me that each of us does things when we are ready. Sitting in the car on May 31st outside the Merced branch of the San Francisco public library as day turned to evening and the fog swirled around us, Aubrie’s fresh new mall haircut representing victory and with a few Mrs. Field’s cookies in my belly to fuel my decision-making process, I knew I was ready to go and here now a month and a half later I find myself in the mountains of Yosemite. It is the first stop along the path of a year-long journey, my home for now and a baby step away from my life the past eight years in San Francisco. I will be here for two months, and after that? It is, as Aeli says, not yet clear, but I am sure something will happen, I am confident my next destination will present itself, and I plan to keep you posted along the way.
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