So, being that I am so homesick for my old job, I am lately visiting it every night in my dreams. I have lost count at this point of how many times I have been "back there" in the last few weeks. As in most dreams, there is something not quite right. One time, I had to teach in the hallway with me in the corner and desks lined up at a 90 degree angle. Another time, I only had 30 minutes to make the 45 minute commute. I was trying to figure out if I could speed fast enough to make up the time. The last thing I wanted to do was disappoint Jim (my principal) by being late.
In every single dream so far, the issue of the front office comes up. I always fail to sign in. At some point, I realize that I have been working for days on end without ever signing in. In the most recent dream, Jim finally seeks me out to tell me that I have to sign in.
A friend of mine tells me that these recurring dreams have a deep meaning -- that my psyche is trying to tell me something. I think it's trying to tell me that I need to teach. In spite of all these lovely offers I've been getting thanks to Monster (Aflac, Omaha Insurance, & Weichert Realtors to name a few) I am a teacher. I might be able to make $80,000 a year selling caskets (yes, I was looking into a casket sales position) but "IyamwhatIyam" and that's a teacher. So I'll keep plugging away until I find my way back where I belong.
And I'm going to take my friend's advice and sign a piece of paper before I go to bed tonight -- thereby "signing in" again and officially admitting that I am a career teacher who belongs -- officially belongs -- in a public school. Maybe tonight I will just enjoy teaching without worrying about that front office.
Hopefully, I'll start getting a paycheck from the astral world for all this work.
Update: As ridiculous as I felt doing it, I "signed in" (I have a counter in my kitchen which is high and very similar to the office counter where we used to sign in) and it worked at least for last night. I slept! No teaching.