TOTY

These four letters have popped up in titles, in conversation, and in just my regular life over the last few weeks.  I am honored and I feel highly appreciated.  In many ways it has given me new confidence in what I do on a daily basis - not doing anything different, just a little more secure in the day-to-day instruction decisions I have to make.  Afterall, I have the confidence of me peers, and those are the ones who are right there in the trenches with me, weeding our way through the next big idea (currently known as CCGPS).   I am trying not to let the calls from the newspapers and the rockstar parking space go to my head!  The extra attention has been fun.

On the night of the banquet which honored all ten of the TOTY for the county, I definitely felt like a princess.  I arrived to a table decorated in my true fashion.  It was filled with pictures of my teaching in action over the course of the last 11 years.  Wow did some of those pictures take me back!  The table was yellow - my favorite with trendy gray chevron.  It was indeed the prettiest table there.  At my table were my guests of honor - Tony, who has been frequently referred to as my husband and past TOTY at NOHS, Cam and Maeve, the ones who sacrifice the most because of my career, and Moo and Doo, the ones who have been cheering me on the longest!

I was overwhelmed with emotion when Mrs. Roper described me.  I tried to maintain my smiling glow that she talked of instead of the sobbing mess that I felt like showing.  I was honored for her to share my own words and feel like everyone who heard it know me on a deeper level now.  They know what my daily goal is and that this is not just an ordinary job - it is my mission.  

I feel so blessed to have this honor.