oh hey there. it’s me. ali. i think we’ve met before.

sorry we’ve been MIA, these last two weeks. james is working another busy season. and i am up to my eyeballs in graduate school. i don’t think we’ve cooked an actual meal in weeks. i haven’t done any DIY projects. and i’m pretty sure my friends think i’ve moved to some far off distant country since i haven’t seen them in forever.

so with that said, you’re probably wondering what i’m going to share with you today. and you know what, i was thinking the exact same thing. and then it dawned on me… i should tell you something very important about my life. my decision to change careers. and no, not so much the boring stuff. but the one little girl, who changed everything!

{{warning. warning. this is a long post}}

in college you’re told to pick a major. at northeastern, you’re told to pick a career.
and when it was my turn… i chose business. for one reason, money! i was living in a new {expensive} city on a college kid budget. and, i wanted the cash money to live the high life that seemed so far out of my reach. so i studied, interned and graduated with a degree in business marketing and management {and a minor in american history}.

thanks to northeastern’s amazing co-op program, i had zero trouble finding a job. in fact, i was hired right out of college, then changed jobs. then changed jobs again. then was offered another job. so in two and half years, i had 4 different jobs at 3 different companies. and, that my friends is like a serious NO-NO.

the last job was the job that i had worked so hard to get. the marketing manager position. it was awesome. i was 25 sitting in on board meetings and sharing my ideas with people twice my age. i felt such a sense of pride handing people my business card. alexandra gerbino – consumer marketing manager. and yet, something still wasn’t right. i wasn’t happy.

during this new gig, i was offered the part to volunteer with the organization – Power Lunch. this organization sends working professionals to schools to read one-on-one with young students. your student may need a little extra attention. or, he/she may be a little behind in reading. so for one school year, i would spend my lunch hour reading to my little student – K.

K was in 2nd grade and was a very bright. i was there to just give a little extra attention – since her daddy was a marine and overseas and her momma was holding down the fort at home. at first, K was shy but always greeted me with a big smile and a wave. getting her to talk however ,was gosh darn near impossible. luckily, she warmed up, and by the end she was regaling me with all the details of her fantastic weekend!

by late may, the school year was almost done, and power lunch was coming to an end. and to celebrate another successful term, we got to have a pizza party with our students. when the party was over and it was time to say goodbye, the power lunch instructor asked all the students to turn to their “mentor” and give them a big round of applause. but before he could say “round of applause”, two little arms gave me the biggest hug! my little miss k. my shy little second grader who would always just wave and smile, gave me a hug. a small token of thanks that would inevitably change everything.

walking back to my car, i realized just how much i was going to miss little miss k and the power lunch reading. i realized that going to the school every tuesday was the highlight of my week. not the board meetings. not the events. not the little office.

in the weeks to follow, i started really questioning the decisions i had made regarding my career. my job was great. but i just wasn’t happy. and i wasn’t about to change jobs for a fifth time. so, through many discussions with james, my parents and my friends, i made the biggest decision a few months later. i decided to quit my corporate job and go back to {graduate} school to become a teacher.

and so here i am. a 2nd semester graduate student. up to her eyeballs with lesson plans.
all thanks to a little girl and her very big hug.

best decision ever.

{thanks k, for being my first student}
{thanks readers, for reading my super-long post}

me, on my 2nd day of graduate school.

xx

This entry was posted on Friday, March 1st, 2013 at 3:46 pm and is filed under life as we know it. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.