My first career
Is shutting down
Closing up shop
Wrapping around to
Turn off the lights
The career I didn’t
Realize I was training for
As a student
In grad school
My classroom much smaller
Than I prepared
For
My students never left
My students called me Mom
It was
Wonderful
Awful
Thrilling
Exhausting.
When your students’ fate
Is wound up so tight in one’s worth
It was my identity
It was my joy
And I needed to let it loose from my
Death grip.
Because wisdom comes in knowing
When to say
When.
A silent partner
A suggestion
A realization
A decision
Because my kids need
A mom
More than a teacher
And when I wore the teacher hat
I couldn’t wear the Mom hat
Very
Well.
So goodbye homeschool
Prep and
Planning!
Goodbye
Post-it lists on the counter
Unless they’re for chores!
Goodbye pre-algebra from the start
Which I was never really good at
To
Begin
With!
Goodbye bearing all of the
Burden!
Hello, village.
I once thought you were so
Dangerous
Scary
Unkind
And I think that was
Ill-informed.
I am not naïve
I know this will be hard,
But a different challenge
One that doesn’t rely on my
Mental
Health
So darn much.