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2024 has been a big year.

In March, I used spring break to take my son back to our hometown. He wanted to go to college there. I thought he should see it first. He loved it. We decided to give it a year so we could save up to move.

In April, the perfect teaching job at the high school was available so I applied, just in case. They don’t come open often.

In May, the middle school principal emailed me and asked if she could please interview me for a completely different position that had nothing to do with my on paper qualifications. It was so out of the blue that I agreed. Twenty minutes after the interview, they offered me my choice of four different positions in the school. I accepted. It all felt right.

In August, my son and I moved home. I’ve never lived outside my parents home except for a disastrous 15 day period when I was rebelling and moved in with a boyfriend. To decide to do that for the first time 1500 miles from my parents and my brother was terrifying, but again, it all felt right.

I quickly learned that this job isn’t what I expected. The school is much more an inner city school than any of the ones I worked in while living in Denver. For those of you that actually know me, it’s a bonus. I don’t like being bored. But it was an adjustment. I walked in with the wrong mindset and struggled against that for the first 6 weeks.

In September, Hurricane Helene swooped in and devastated my hometown. See, I’d grown up in Asheville, NC and that’s the town to which we returned. I’m sure you’ve seen the news reports. It’s been a long, hard process of recovery that won’t be complete any time soon. But still, my son and I jumped in everywhere we could handle. I was out looking for kids who hadn’t made contact and we were helping with community dinners at our complex. It was a soul building experience that I’m actually grateful to have had. It showed me more what I am capable of instead of the person I thought I was.

In November, we finally got back in the swing of things at school. Kind of. We’ve had snow days, and holidays, and one day where I had a severe allergic reaction to the marijuana a student smoked in my hallway. We’ve had fights and kids falling apart over small things and pitching big fits.

This week, however, I came to the realization that I’m where I’m supposed to be and I love what I do. My aunt died this week. It hit me REALLY hard. I saw the message and started to cry and dropped my phone. Scared the shit out of my best friend who was riding shotgun while we decorated her office for Christmas. The next day I woke up feeling skonklish. I felt like there were all these loose ends that made up Meli. But I also didn’t want to stay home and feel bad. I wanted to go be with my kids. My own kid has stuff to accomplish that day and the next best thing was my students.

Yesterday, there was a situation at school. I heard my name over the radio, something that doesn’t happen, and got a call from the principal moments later. A kid was in a bad situation and wouldn’t talk. They needed me, because I’m that kid’s person. I got the whole story, they handled it, and his directions for the rest of the day were to stick to me like glue. If I do NOTHING else this year, I helped that kid when he needed me most. I accomplished something. I can SEE the difference.

2024 has been a big year. And until this week, I couldn’t figure out why the timing felt so right and then everything had been so hard. I see it now.