"Are You A Teacher Yet?"

This is what Mikenna asked me on Monday night as soon as I walked through the door. I got out of class early on Monday because it was our last class. When I got home at 7:30 she was still up. As soon as I walked through the door, this was our conversation:

Mikenna - "Are you a teacher yet?"
Me - "What?"
Mikenna - "Are you a teacher yet?"
Me - "Ummm" me stalling trying to figure out what she is wanting to know when all of a sudden the light bulb goes on. "Oh, yes I did pass my tests." which I recieved a huge hug for.

To explain this I need to go back a month. I took 2 of my 3 required AEPA teacher certification tests on November 8th. When I got home that day after 8 hours of testing, Mikenna asked me if I was a teacher. I told her that I would not find out if I passed until December 8th and then I still had to do my student teaching in January. She does not care about that part, just the testing. We haven't discussed this anymore except for me telling John that I really didn't think I passed. I felt totally unprepared and so did the other 8 people from my class, but when I came home on Monday night - December 8th - she knew it was THE day.

So after my light bulb going on, I was amazed that my little 8 year old would remember this. She amazes me sometimes with what she can remember. She may struggle in some areas, but when it is important to her, she remembers it. Case inpoint: last week, she told me that on March 11th it will be 1 year and 1/2 year since Grandpa died. After I did my mental math I told her that she was right. Where does she come up with some of this stuff? We don't talk about it.

With her asking me if I was a teacher yet, and more importantly remembering the date, it made me realize how important it is to her, but how much she has missed me. She views it as the end of me being gone at night more often than not.

I also finished classes this week. So it has been a GREAT week. I am done with classes. What a huge stress relief both of these have been.