Weekly Summer Link-Up: Where I Was Five Years Ago

I was browsing Instagram and found this wonderful Link-Up and just had to join in on the fun.  Miss Monica over at I Heart Grade 3 is hosting a weekly summer link-up and this week's topic is where you were 5 years ago.

The summer of 2010 was a big year for me.   I hope you are ready to hear all about it :)

So I have to start out with a little back story...I graduated college in May of 2009 and by the grace of God managed to land a teaching job in Illinois.  I was hired to teach fourth grade a week before the first day of school.  In the middle of the school year, my school district announced that all non-tenured teachers would be 'laid-off' and only those with more than three years of teaching experience could interview to try and get a position back.  What?!?!  Alright then.  So I started job searching.  And guess what I found?  Nothing.  Yep - there were NO teaching jobs open within a 100 mile radius of where I lived.  So I did the logical thing and expanded my search - country wide.  I came across a district in Tennessee with lots of openings and applied.  I was asked to come down for a job fair and was offered a first grade position on the spot.  Yay!!

So that brings me to the summer of 2010.  I cleaned out my classroom, packed up everything from my parent's house and started the journey to Tennessee with my boyfriend (who is now my husband).  Tim drove the 12-foot moving truck with his pick-up on a trailer behind it while I followed.  The 8 hour trip took us 11 hours - ugh!  But we finally got to our new apartment.   We moved the mattress in and Tim went to sleep while I managed to unpack everything else (except the furniture).  I was just too excited not to!  

We had to store my school stuff behind the couch because I couldn't get into my classroom yet :)

A few weeks later I was able to get into my classroom.  I replaced a teacher who had been there for over 15 years and she had left me quite a bit of materials.  It was overwhelming to try to go through everything and get the room organized to the way I wanted it but it was exciting at the same time.

It was a scary time in my life because I moved away from my family and friends to a new place that I knew nothing about.  Luckily, it was the best decision I could have made.  We have made incredible friends here and I couldn't be happier at the school that I am at.  It is amazing to look back and see how far we have come since moving here - and it has only been 5 years!

What were you doing five years ago?