I know I said that my next post would be about my new "fun" workout regimen. But frankly, I've been under the weather, and the workouts have been placed on hold. I will be getting back to them very soon, however, and there will be much to write about when I do. In the mean time, I have a different story to share.
So although I am officially a stay-at-home wife now, I occasionally do speaking engagements at schools and student organizations. In the past, I've always had to schedule my speaking around my regular job. There were times when I had to race from work to wherever I was giving a speech, changing in the car on the way. I always made it work, but the stress level in situations like that was astronomical!
Yesterday was my first speaking engagement since stepping out of the workforce; what a difference it was! I was asked to speak to seventh graders on their last day of the school year. I spoke in four different periods. When I was asked if I would be able to do the job, I didn't have to check my schedule. I didn't start sweating over who I might be able to get to cover my job so I could take a day off. I simply said, "Why yes, I'd love to come speak to your students all day."
I've spent a good amount of time worrying that I'm not cramming my day with enough tasks to complete since coming over to the wife work side. Yesterday was a silver lining type of day. I realized that one of the biggest perks in staying home is having the flexibility to rearrange your schedule at the drop of a dime. There's no one to clear the changes with. If the dishes don't get done for one day, it's not going to affect anyone else's deadline. I can take on a project, even a last minute one, based solely on my own discretion. I know that eventually, when there are multiple kids with multiple activities to participate in, this might not be such an easy breezy gig. And even now, there's plenty to keep me busy enough to never be bored. But I am learning to take full advantage of the liberties I currently have before they are gone forever! And I'm thanking God every day for allowing me those liberties at all.
BTW, if you're interested, check out my speaking website:
www.jenniferharon.com
Thank you so much Jennifer for saving the day on the last day of school! Ask any teacher, and they will tell you that the last day of school is usually very exhausting because the students are so high strung. I, on the other hand, had the best "last day" I've ever had in my twelve years of teaching! The students were so locked in to what you were sharing and did not want to leave the room when it was time to go! It was so quiet in the room while you were speaking on the subject of integrity. Trust me, that is a full-blown miracle, especially on the last day of school! Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming to my classroom! I would highly recommend you to any school or organization who had a desire to impact their people with a highly engaging and positive presentation. - Annette Ciaravino, teacher
ReplyDeleteCorrection to previous post: Toward the end of my comment, I had the following sentence:
ReplyDelete"I would highly recommend you to any school or organization who had a desire to impact their people with a highly engaging and positive presentation." I need to correct it because the editor/writer/teacher in me is appalled that I actually posted it with the error, so I must correct it! It should say:
"I would highly recommend you to any school or organization THAT HAS a desire to impact ITS people with a highly engaging and positive presentation."
-Annette Ciaravino,editor/writer/teacher