It Led Me to This

I just got attack group hugged by my entire Tiger Club Class in the hallway.  Tiger Club is our after school program and I teach two nights a week.  Tonight was not my night to teach, but as I was leaving the building my kids were standing in the hallway and they all just swarmed and surrounded me in a huge group hug that was filled with so much love.  It's moments like that that really make me thank God for having a plan for me.

I am such a person who wants to be in control and I am a major planner.  I was never supposed to be a teacher.  Actually, I am pretty sure growing up with a teacher for a mother I said I would NEVER be a teacher.  My plan was to go to pharmacy school.  There I would meet and fall in love with another pharmacist, because 90% of pharmacists marry other pharmacists.  We would own our own pharmacy and have little pharmacy babies and live happily ever after.  That was my dream and I was quite devastated when I discovered that I didn't like pharmacy school and I really didn't enjoy working in a pharmacy.

When I left pharmacy school I was Pre-med, then Pre-Physical Therapy, then Pre-Occupational Therapy. I finally graduated with a degree in nutrition, but really didn't know what I was going to do with it.
Some where along the line though I fell in love with ministry.  That's why I am working on my masters in Theology.  And this teaching job... well I kind of just fell into it and it has been one of the best things of my life over the last few years.

I don't regret going to pharmacy school, or transferring schools two times, or changing my major four.  Those are the things that have shaped me and helped me become the person I am today, the person I will be.  Those things led me to this!

I promise that not all my post will be about songs, but music is a huge part of my life. I heard this song for the first time this past weekend .

It is called "This" by Darius Rucker.

I don't really know how I got here
But I'm so glad that I did
And it's crazy to think that one little thing
Could have changed all of this
Maybe it didn't turn out like I planned
Maybe that's why I'm such, such a lucky man

Every stoplight I didn't make
Every chance I did or I didn't take
All the nights I went too far
All the girls that broke my heart
All the doors that I had to close
All the things I knew but I didn't know
Thank God for all I missed
Cause it led me here to this

So here I am working in a job I said I would never do and studying a subject that never even crossed my mind, but I am happier than ever and I know that these things are part of what is shaping and molding me now for the future.  They are leading me to what I will be 5, 10, 20 years from now.

Leave Nothing Less Than Something - What it means

I guess I should start off with what it means.  "Leave Nothing Less" that is...There is this song, I Was Here by Lady Antebellum, here is the chorus.

I wanna do something that matters

Say something different

Something that sets the whole world on its ear

I wanna do something better

With the time I've been given

And I wanna try

To touch a few hearts in this life

Leave nothing less

Than something that says “I was here”

This song just really says what I feel. I feel I was put here to do something more than just go through the 
motions of each day. I feel I was put here to do something full of greatness. What great thing? That I don't 
know. Maybe, like the song says, I'll write a book like Mark Twain, paint like Van Gogh, cure the common 
cold, or compose symphonies. Or maybe I won't do any of those things, especially paint, since my art skills 
are quite.... well - horrendous.  

Maybe my great thing is something not so great. Great as in large, that is. 
Maybe I'm supposed to do something smaller. Maybe that something won't 
 make a difference to the whole world, maybe just to a few, but as long as it makes a 
difference to at least one, I will call it a success. One of my favorite stories is about the 
starfish thrower. If you don't know what I am talking about check it out here. (They have 
author unknown, but it is an excerpt of an essay by Loren Eiseley called "The Star Thrower")

So while maybe I am not being called to cure cancer or be the next Oprah, this is what I know.  I know that I was called to be an intern for Susan G. Komen for the Cure - St. Louis and be a part of the 10th anniversary St. Louis Race for the Cure - the biggest 5k in the world!  I know that when my future children are studying Hurricane Katrina in history class, I will be able to say that I was called to spend spring break of my freshman year of college, gutting houses in the lower ninth ward, leaving my mark on NOLA.  Lastly, I know that this year I am being called to be working at an elementary school, trying to make a difference in the lives of a few nine, ten and eleven year olds.  "I wanna try to touch a few hearts in this life.  LEAVE NOTHING LESS THAN SOMETHING that says I was here."  I don't know where life is going to take me, all I know is that my goal is to leave my mark on the world. 


This blog will probably be pretty random because... well because I am a pretty random person.  I have many different hobbies.  I like to bake and this year I am going to attempt cake decorating.  I also like to do random crafty things, especially if they involve getting to use power tools, :)  I also really like photography.  
So - random - this blog will be full of randomness, but that is me, and that is the mark I will leave.  The nothing less than something to say I was here!