Children

So many people have asked us over the years why we don't have any children yet. We always joke about it, and we know our tolerances run low, but for me, the fact is, I know that when I make an impact on 1 child as a teacher, through them I impact their children and their grandchildren... and so on, through many generations.

I have been told that not having children makes me selfish. Not having children doesn't make me selfish. Not having children allows me to give more of myself to greater numbers. Does that sound arrogant? It's not meant to be. I watch and listen to my colleagues who juggle being a wife, mother, and teacher (and all of the roles that being a teacher encompasses), and so often they are tired and stretched. Their loyalties are split, because make no mistake, teachers ARE loyal to their students, but they are also loyal to their families. I see them struggle to want to be there 100% for their students (YOUR children), and still have the time and energy to be a great mom and wife. I know that during the first month of school, I come home so exhausted that poor Jason is lucky to get a few words out of me before I collapse in to bed. I truly do not know how teachers with families do it!

Anyway, all of this brings me to what I am calling a mid-life crisis, though I don't know that it really is/was.

For many years I have dreamed of starting a school, but I have feared failure. I have also feared that I wanted it for the wrong reasons. I don't want to base a dream on saying f-you to people who didn't hire me, didn't believe in me, etc. But that's all changed. I was looking for a direction, and I found it, and it goes back to a saying that I have heard and, admittedly, have rolled my eyes at...

Be the change you want to see in the world. --Gandhi

I was watching Oprah's surprise finale, and Madonna was speaking on how Oprah's school for girls in Africa inspired her to open her own school for girls in Malawi, and I found myself asking, why we don't have these kinds of schools here in America? Don't we want to teach our girls that they can run the world? Don't we want our girls to be great leaders and teachers? Why can't someone open a school for OUR girls?

Wait.

Someone CAN! In fact, I know someone with the training and the drive to do just that. ME!

And so the journey has begun! I have signed up for a class next week to learn how to write a charter, and I have started researching. This is going to happen! And for the right reasons. :)

To make an impact. That is the legacy I wish for.