A Hurting Heart

This is the first year I haven't gotten a classroom ready for the start of the school year.  I am so glad to be staying home with my baby, but it's definitely an odd feeling. 

I miss the school I used to teach at so much all year round, but especially this time of year.  After graduating in December, I subbed at St. Peter's thinking it would just be temporary.  I ended up getting a teaching job for the next school year and stayed 3 years.  I miss it so, so much.  I don't want to go back to be a teacher again right now, I want to be a stay at home mom, I just want to be near that school- maybe volunteer once a week, and I would love for my kids to go there.

St. Peter's is located in Hokah, Mn, which is a town of about 600.  I love everything about that place.  I loved the drive to work- short, but beautiful, and I'd stop to let my horse out on the way.  Nothing wakes you up like cool country morning air.  I loved how many days the kitchen at school would be filled with people peeling apples and making pies.  I loved how everyone knew everyone, and how parents and grandparents had been a part of St. Peter's.  I loved the whole school Monday morning meetings.   I loved the Christmas and Spring programs.  I'm not even Catholic, but I loved Mass.  I loved how the school and church felt like they were full of memories and life.  I loved my big classroom and the two whole walls full of windows; being able to see the bluffs, the snow, the rain, or the sun. 

 I loved being a teacher there.

But I miss much more than those things- I miss my friends.  I miss the girls I taught with so much that sometimes my heart literally hurts.  I feel like I've moved away from a best friend... but its more than one friend, its 5 best friends that are more like family.  I miss Sherry's spunkiness, Rachel F's wisdom, Rachel S's patience, I miss Linda's energy and vast knowledge, and the way Theresa and I just kind of understood each other.  We see each other whenever we can, but it never feels like enough.

Maybe someday my children can go to St. Peter's.  It's the best place in the world, and I miss it everyday.