Sunday, August 1, 2010

Growing up is hard to do

Last weekend I went to Kansas City for a quick visit with my friends, and to help finalize everything with the house since the lease was up at the end of July. It was a very bittersweet trip.
To break up the trip on the way up, I decided to stop by Stillwater and Lawrence to take pictures of the campus so I could decorate my new office with campus photos. It as a great road trip, and I enjoyed the much needed alone time in the car. After I left Lawrence, I headed up to Smithville to have dinner and some lake time with Liz and Aaron. Tons of fun and good conversation. Saturday was spent doing things around the house and catching up with my best friend, then Sunday night I had a much needed dinner with Sari before she and her family move to Chicago. Then Sunday night was a great surprise dessert with Byron! He was in town from STL, and it was SO good to catch up with him. Monday I had set aside time to visit with everyone at the office, starting with an early breakfast with Cathy. After our almost 2.5 hour breakfast, I was able to quickly catch up with everyone in the office. As I was leaving, my heart ached because I realized how much I miss them all. I work with some pretty great people at UTA, but none of them are the friends I have left behind. The rest of Monday was equally hard, saying goodbye for the last time to the house I loved, saying goodbye to my best friend were excruciating. I cried pretty much the whole way home. And was weepy most of the week too. Growing up and moving on is hard, but I just keep reminding myself why I made this change. I know that I am here for a reason, I just have to keep my eyes on my goals. That's not going to change the fact that I deeply miss all of my friends, but who know what the future holds in Texas!

Monday, July 19, 2010

My favorite quote

"Treat people as if they are what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe



In college, I had this quote taped to my desk in my dorm room, and later in my apartment. When I got my first 'real' job at KU, I put it on my bulletin board in my office. It reminded me of my 'philosophy of education', and I liked how it made me feel when I read it, and how I related it to my chosen career field. You see, when you go to interview for jobs in higher education, they will always ask you what your philosophy of education is. My philosophy is that everyone is an individual - that every person who walks into my office brings with them a unique set of circumstances, backgrounds, issues, and ideas. In my work with them, I prefer to focus on their individuality and in that, I seek to treat them as if they already are what they could be. When I have a freshman in my office who is failing a course, I don't focus on their failure - I focus on the success that they are capable of.

As I unpacked my new office last week, I came across this quote again. It made me pause, and I realized I we should use this philosophy in every day life.