One week down!

Well. Matt and I survived our first week at school!  And boy, was it a week.

The good news is, Matt didn't come home saying he didn't want to teach anymore, pack up we're moving back to Iowa! The days leading up to the first day of school were pretty stressful.  We spent the whole week before going into Matt's classroom and setting things up.  We painted cabinets and we hung things on the wall.  Then Matt spent lots of time planning and planning.  When school finally started, Matt felt kinda ready.  And you know Matt, he's very critical of himself, so everyday he would come home and we would discuss his day, and I would reassure him that it sounded just fine.  He is having a blast teaching Latin though.  It's been his dream, and now he's teaching these kids his hobby! 

While Matt was spending every waking moment at school, I was at home...being bored.  By the Sunday before school came, I had my first breakdown.  Crying, I told Matt that I was lonely, I hated Florida and I wanted to move back to Iowa.  Matt, who I inadvertently made feel guilty about the time he was taking to plan the first week of school, reassured me that once school started the next day I would feel better.  And that eventually I would be making friends.  I dried my tears and sucked it up.  We moved down here so he would have an opportunity to do what he loves, and deep down, I'm happy-ish here.  I just wish that I was involved in more.  AWANA is starting at the church I attend, so I'm going to get involved with that, so hopefully eventually I won't feel so sequestered and lonely down here.  And work is going well. It's part-time, so I only work 5 hrs a day, but it's 5 hrs where I'm not sitting all alone.

Beginning the second week of school, Matt left this morning feeling more confident than he had all week last week.  He doesn't get home until 5:30, and only then it's because I force him home with dinner being ready on the table.  Compared to this time last year, this is a completely different Matthew.  By the middle of last year, he was incredibly depressed.  This is the happiest I've seen him in a really long time.  I'm so happy that God blessed us with a teaching job this year!

Starting Habits, Facing Fears

So one of the perks about living where we live, is the fact that we have a lot of amenities that are included in the rent.  We have a fitness center, a swimming pool, a tennis court, a dog park and a walking trail around a pond.  In this pond, lives dozens of ducks.

We lucked out when getting the last available two bedroom apartment in that our windows over look the pond and we have a beautiful view.  We also live far enough away from the pool and fitness center that it's a nice relaxing three minute walk to get over there.  The problem though is we have to walk on the walking trail to get there.  The bigger problem: the ducks LOVE to hang out on the walking trail and sleep on the little foot bridges.  And anyone who knows me knows that I am TERRIFIED of water fowl.  

When we moved here, I was determined to utilize the fitness center as soon as we got settled in, and last week was that time.  Matt had inservice, so I had to walk to the fitness center and around the ducks...alone.  I did it, but every time I walked past a duck, I would eye it suspiciously, and walk just a little quicker.  And our ducks look scary...just see the picture above.  Why couldn't we have mallards? At least they look harmless.  These ducks look like they want to peck you to death.

This is our second week of being "settled" and my second week of working out daily at the fitness center.  I'm still terrified of the ducks, but I don't procrastinate going to work out because of them.  One of these days I might be able to walk to the fitness center and see a duck and not shriek a little or make a wide berth around them.  Until then, I'll just try to form my new exercise habits and face my fears one day at a time.