"It is the new pupil..." ~ Jane Eyre

I do not miss being around students.

I don't have to.

I am surrounded by students each day in my office and love each and every one of them. They are my department's work study hires and program ambassadors.

As I left teaching high school, I admit to losing a great deal of hope in our future generations. The past three weeks I have gained it back and then some; the students that surround me daily are very special individuals, indeed.

My work study students make my work day even brighter than it already is. There is Remmy, who is a freshman with one cool Jamaican accent. He is the most polite and kind person I have ever met, and all of my colleagues and I fight over who gets him in the office that day. I have worked with him a few times and its a blast. I put on reggae as we work in hopes that he comes to me first when he reports in.

The three that work directly under me are all amazing young women. Yenny works two jobs to pay for school, yet still shows up early to work with a smile on her face. Kaina is a shy freshman who I admit to babying a bit; I am always feeding her because she is too skinny. Shar is my favorite to talk to. This girl knows her politics, so we discuss it often. This afternoon we agreed that Obama is hot, both literally and figuratively. She told me that this is the first presidential election she is voting in and she can't wait. I don't think she had any idea how much her excitement to vote would affect the rest of my day; she made it special because of that comment.

The program ambassadors are a bunch of powerhouses who, ironically, helped to train me when I arrived a month ago! I am so proud that they represent the university - their values and sense of integrity are apparent each time I interact with them. They are more like peers and less like students who work under us.

So I do not miss my students...I have new ones who, ironically, give more to me then I feel I give to them. As hard as that is, I know life is about give and take. Right now I need to take their positive attitudes and special souls to reawaken my ability to give. Give it a few months, because I am heading back to take classes and become a college librarian so I can be there for students in the most important way I can think of in the world of Academia...

"Perhaps, you would have a home here..." ~ Jane Eyre

My new green desk lamp is as bright as my mood here at work. Today I walked around campus during my lunch hour, absorbing the glow of a University campus the first day of autumn classes. I chose a green lamp because our school colors are green and gold; the colors are rather apropos. The grass IS greener here, and I feel like gold anytime I enter this office.

I am working a little late this evening. Its cozy here. I hear Westminster chimes every quarter of the hour. We had a clock in my Tudor house growing up that played Westminster, so I find it comforting to be working in a Tudor house hearing Westminster.
I have only been here three weeks, but it feels more like home than where I worked for the past seven years.

I am moving homes this weekend. I will be leaving my apartment of seven years and moving into an apartment closer to campus on the North Shore of Long Island. The apartment is in a Victorian home, and the house is whimsical. I have the place all to myself and cannot wait to start living there come Sunday.

So, with a little rest from all of these major changes in my life, my creativity will find its way home here and become restored…

"Often, of an evening, when he sat at the window, his desk and papers before him, he would cease reading or writing..." ~ Jane Eyre

There are swirls of excitement within me about starting my new job tomorrow. Some are huge swirls and others small swirls. The smallest swirl...practically incidental, really...is over my new desk. However, each swirl is significant.

I never had my own desk in the school I taught in. I shared it with other teachers who used the room. It was always a mess of paperclips, chalk dust, single staples, dried out pens, outdated memos, blue hall passes, and tests that teachers never graded. It was probably from the 1970's; sharp edges on the drawer corners that ripped many a pantyhose until I gave up and just wore dress pants to work. It was never really cleaned, and the computer took up most of the space.

Packed in my attache case tonight are items for my very own, new desk. The boyfriend gave me a pen from his workplace yesterday...its green with his company logo; I like knowing that part of his workday will be part of mine. I also have more pens for my new desk, pocket tissues in a floral pattern, a floral covered memo pad so I can write things down as I go along, floral patterned post-its, and my memo holders. My memo holders are ones I am excited about. They are small replicas of busts of Shakespeare, Dickens, and Austen. You can take the teacher out of English, but you can't take the English out of the teacher.

So tonight I feel like its Christmas Eve. I have been given a great gift to open tomorrow morning. My new work attire is out, I am having some tea, and I am ready to fall asleep and dream of my new desk until I wake up and it becomes reality.

*Thank you all for your kind wishes...those will be carried to work with me tomorrow, too.*