Today was the last day of school. We wrapped up the school year by reading the books that the boys worked on all year. It was a really nice day. I handed out the report cards that I had calculated for science and history. My youngest cleaned out his desk and the boys lugged it to the curb. No need for a school desk anymore. (Honestly it was a storage bin and not much else all this time anyway.) I announced their promotion to the next grade and then it was all over. When my daughter came home from school we had a rare treat of happy meals and a swim in our friends pool. The day probably looked like so many other days from the outside, but it was so much more than that. This morning I was a homeschool mom like every day for the past almost 10 years. Even summer breaks I was a homeschool mom with summer packets, deciding on curriculum and preparing for the next year. But by lunch time today I was simply “unemployed”. My job search for the coming school year has so far turned up nothing, yet the boys are enrolled in school. The catch 22 is that I can’t pay for school until I start working which I can’t do until the kids are in school. Hopefully a job will present itself soon to alleviate the stress associated with a huge tuition bill. This is a new place for me to be in. I have never been unemployed, but on the other hand I have never been employed either. I have had summer jobs and part time positions while in school, but never a full time paid position. I am nervous about the changes. I am excited about the possibilities. I am closing a chapter of my life, one that I never imagined I would love as much as I did, but I enjoyed oh so very much none the less. It’s hard to imagine that life could be better than this. So as I go to sleep tonight as a middle aged, unemployed mom I am planning of dreaming about the sweetness of life, the joy of the unexpected, the anticipation of better things to come and the peace that comes with following Jesus every step of the way,even when I can not see the next step on the road.
