Connecting the dots

I remember one day in 2019:

 I was a teaching assistant at EO Smith. It was just something I was trying partly on a whim, after the slow and painful realization that farming was probably not going to be sustainable as a long term occupation, at this point in my life.

I was helping another teacher in his intro to science classroom. One day after school I went to Starbucks across the street and, while having my coffee, thought about how I've always really liked physics, in school and outside of school, and how I would like to teach it. That idea took shape more and more, and over the next few months, I decided to take the physics exam and qualify as a potential physics teacher. Then, after passing the exam, I went through an intense official training to get my pedagogy skills. 

Long story short, here I am, 4 years later, teaching physics, a completion of that initial vision. I took this picture sitting at Starbucks this week after school, on a beautiful afternoon, correcting some labs. Same place as 4 years ago, I felt very much connected to that initial seed of inspiration and glad that I followed it. 

I don't want to make it sound like it's all been a bed of roses getting here, because it hasn't. But I do want to acknowledge that I am really enjoying where I am right now, and I am grateful that that original vision materialized.