2 years and a lot of changes later....

Two years ago, Justin and I decided to make 17 nights of phone calls become a much anticipated face-to-face interaction. From our first date, or maybe even before, I guess we should have known that our relationship would be fun, but all too often bring unexpected occurrences. When we finally decided to meet, we were supposed to go to dinner at Applebee’s in Greenville, SC and then go bowling. It so happened that neither of the locations we had planned to visit were even in existence, much less open. So we came up with plan B, going to downtown Greenville, sitting by the waterfall and talking.

But let me back up… to explain why it took 17 nights of phone calls before Justin and I could actually have a first date.  A few days after we began our nightly ritual of Justin calling shortly after 9pm so we could capitalize on the ‘free nights and weekends’ minutes , Justin was caught in a Police trap and pulled over for crossing a train track when the red lights were flashing. Ordinarily this would have been just a minor traffic offense, but while he was pulled over the policeman discovered Justin was driving on a suspended license (unbeknownst to Justin). His license had been suspended due to an “unpaid” speeding ticket in a small town in Tennessee a year earlier. Justin had in fact mailed the money in but the record keeping in Tennessee must be worse than ours here in South Carolina (that’s for you, Trav) and it was never taken off of his record. For what felt like the longest time, we couldn’t meet due to a misunderstanding and the record keeping in Tennessee.

Nevertheless, back to our first date: A night of handholding and a good-bye kiss later, I was as giggly as a middle school girl- this comparison holds more weight to me now because I teach them and know just how excited they get when a boy looks their way. So yes, I was all smiles. But apparently I was not as sure as Justin was… for on his ride home he called his best friend, Mark. When asked how it went, Justin replied, “I’m gonna marry her.” Just what a wife wants to hear! No denying that the boy had good insight about that!

In the first few weekends of our relationship we had to tackle one of our biggest obstacles: being college football rivals. As everyone who knows me knows, I am a huge Gamecock fan! The same goes for Justin, however we couldn’t be lucky enough to be die hard for the same college football team, no. He’s a Georgia Bulldog all the way. Our extreme loyalties were shown to each other on our third date: UGA vs. USC at Williams-Brice Stadium. Justin was a very good UGA fan, but I guess he had no other choice considering we were sitting in the USC Student Section. We both knew that either way the game ended, one of us would have to show restraint from gloating and the other had to keep from pouting and not take it personally. This was a challenge for me because I always like to make excuses (like all Carolina fans) after a lose…I couldn’t this time because Justin had a come back for everything. Thankfully we got through it…and another season after that! One of the first changes I experienced in our relationship was for me to find UGA football tolerable.

Families were then met and quickly we began to take up as much of each other’s time as we could. Seeing each other every other Saturday soon became every Saturday and we were both discovering how hard life would be without each other.

Our first year of dating culminated with a road trip to Canada which ended in a proposal in Niagara Falls. Definitely spectacular.

It didn’t take long for us to “plan” out our future. We had to take into consideration that I had to work in SC upon graduation because of my scholarships. This didn’t seem like an issue since Clayton, GA is only 10 or so miles from the SC line. As time progressed and the Education budget cuts became more critical, we began to realize our original plan would have to be amended. Come to find out, Oconee County had taken some of the biggest budget cuts across the state of South Carolina. There were no jobs available, not even for Special Education teachers. So, with determination to be together, we started applying for jobs all across the state of South Carolina.

In April, Justin received a job offer from Bartlett Tree Experts in Augusta, but it wasn’t until the Tuesday before our wedding that I secured a job with Kennedy Middle School in Aiken. At this point there was no turning back. We were moving.

So, that Saturday, two became one and I became Mrs. Justin Tyson. We headed off on our honeymoon to Yosemite National Park for a week and tried not to think of all of the changes that lay ahead.

Upon our return, Justin was no longer single, living alone in a small town, working in a very good government job, or having to call me every night at 9pm. And for me, my last name was not the only thing that changed. I was no longer a college student living having to share a bathroom with two girls in Spartanburg, I would no longer be getting housing, school, and groceries paid for from my scholarships. No, I had to pay bills.

One of the bills we had to pay was the mortgage on Justin’s house. As soon as we realized we would be moving, we began working feverishly to fix it up to sell. We worked hard, but to our dismay, we failed to complete the job before moving.

Now that we are living in North Augusta the progress on the house has been slow. We have made several trips, but not as many as we would have liked. On one of the trips in late July, we packed as much stuff into Justin’s Dodge truck and headed home. We arrived late that night and agreed I would just unpack everything the next day. It turns out no unpacking would be necessary due to the fact that at 5:45am I looked out the window to see his truck engulfed in flames.

Another change: new car. After we spent three weeks waiting for insurance to make sure we did not commit arson and for them to send us our check, we were ready for a new car. We spent our time weighing our options and comparing the pro’s and con’s of getting another truck or getting a more fuel efficient vehicle. We compared prices online and when we received our check we had made up our mind and we were ready to make an offer. We were getting a Prius.

We now get 500 miles on a 10 gallon tank. I filled up with gas today and couldn’t help but smile as I got back in the car. This is the car Justin and I needed when we were living two hours apart.

The last few months of our lives have seen many changes, but we are happier than ever. We discuss daily how much better it is to have someone else to share in our happy times as well as our disasters. Through it all we have learned more about each other and our relationship has done nothing but grow.

Week One in Retrospect.

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”

Ignacio Estada

The room at Kennedy Middle School that has been designated as mine is beginning to take shape into the form of a classroom. Well, I guess it has always looked like a classroom..but not the classroom I have always imagined. Last  week I spent the majority of my time organizing the closet space, shelves, desk, and file cabinets. After logging about 57 hours (including working on a Saturday) my room was  presentable for the students to come...but I was not nearly prepared enough...or so I thought.

Monday morning, August 16 I woke up at 5:45am, put on my brand new "first day of teaching career" outfit and made the mistake of asking Justin how I looked. He decided it was probably a little too colorful for a bunch of "behavior problemed" middle schoolers, so I changed. (Probably for the best.) The lime green pants and the swirl-y brown shirt probably would not have made the impressions I was hoping to make (INTIMIDATING). I arrived at school at 6:35am and did more neurotic planning and hanging of last minute posters getting a more than a little anxious to meet my students.

But the time did come....my class consists of 20 boys. 5'8-6'0 tall boys. I teach one girl all day. She is such a delight, however she is boy crazy. I can see this becoming an issue in the near future....oh middle schoolers.

Monday went well.  I intimidated the smaller boys and made the larger ones smile, which is all I could really do with them...so Monday went well enough. After dodging "how old are you" questions and "you look like a student" comments, by the end of the day I was exhausted.

After a long day, I was confident I would sleep excellent that night but MAN I was wrong. I began tossing and turning around 3am with a stomach ache and feeling a little nauseous. Not something that I wanted to start the morning before the second day of school. I went to school and attempted to just suck it up, but I didn't even make it to 8:00am. I had officially been attacked by the stomach bug...but this wasn't just the 24 hour bug, NO SIR, it lasted 48 hours. For these two days I couldn't keep anything down, I was weak, and my stomach hurt. Poor Justin was a trooper. He put up with my wimpering, complaining and begging for more gatorade to keep hydrated. Good Husband!  

Thursday was spent emphasizing procedures that I attempted to establish on Monday that the sub had kind of overlooked. Friday was definitely rewarding, though.

!

Friday reminded me of why I went into teaching in the first place. I have a class full of signifacantly below grade level students who are never interest in work or anything most teachers teach because they usually don't know how to do it. But today was fun. The students actually said "MAN!" (in disappointment) when the 3rd period bell rang for them to leave my classroom. All the way down the hall I could hear them talking about how fun Math was today and how glad they were that I was back! Oh it made me feel good!

Week one is now complete. It is far more stressful than I had originally anticipated, but completely worth every minute.

God is Good.

"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

Exodus 33:14

A few weeks ago I told Justin I wanted to take a trip. Anywhere was fine, I just needed to get out of the house before I started teaching (which is next Monday!) We talked about it and decided...the beach! Then we were left with several more decisions..like which one?

We finally decided on the Outer Banks, made our reservations a couple weeks in advance, and were excited!

After some unforeseen disagreeable vehicular events we thought about cancelling (and actually did) but immediately rebooked. We realized, now more than ever, we needed a vacation!

Saturday morning we left early with a kayak on our roof and a long day's drive ahead of us. We arrived at Cedar Island Ferry right at 11:30am in order to catch the 12 o' clock ferry to Okracoke. Thankfully we were the second car in the 'Cars without Reservations' line because we didn't know you could make reservations and the ferry was completely booked for that time. The guard said two or three cars with reservations usually don't show up, so we should be able to catch it. And we did! We were the last car they let on the ferry!

The ferry ride was 2 hours and 15 minutes--which I must say surely beat being in a car for that long!

Once we got off of the ferry we found our campsite and headed for the beach! (For some reason, I didn't take any pictures of the beach itself...so sorry!)  The temperature was fabulous the entire weekend. It stayed around 75 degrees F, which is a much needed break from the 100+ degree temperatures we have been getting in Augusta.

Sunday morning we woke up to rain. Heavy rain. (Which my dad always says is going to come anytime you pitch a tent.) So, we got up, got in the car, and explored as much of the island as we could (by car) while we waited for the rain to stop. It finally did around 9:30am and we found a spot to put in the kayak.

(This picture is for Tyson and Ben.)

Strategically placed (or not?) in the Pamlico Sound were duck blinds. Lots and lots of them. We could see them from the shore but couldn't quite make out what they were, so we decided that's where we would kayak.  Some were simple (comparatively speaking, this is a simple one), and others were not so simple. Some had glass windows, gas stoves, and a paint color-- not to mention the branches on the sides. We found this very interesting.

The sun never peaked through the clouds all day and it rained again while we were cooking dinner. We had been a little disappointed in the weather but it was still a vacation! After dinner we decided to walk down to the Pamlico Sound with our chairs just to sit by the water. We were wanting to see the sunset but it was so overcast we weren't hopeful. As we rounded the corner and saw water, it appeared as if we had just missed the sunset....however, after a brief moment we realized the sun was still above the clouds...and there was an opening just for us! With glowing excitement we set up our chairs and almost immediately afterwards the sun began to set! What a glorious sight! This view made everything worth it!

(This is God's way of saying He loves us!)

After a week of stress and down-heartedness, we found rest.  We had a fabulous time and couldn't be more thankful for God's beautiful creations!