A New Career Path and Summer Activities

My last year of college, I didn't know what career path to take. Although I double majored in International Business and Marketing, and minored in Japanese, I knew I wanted to come home to Maui, and there were not very many marketing positions available. As fate would have it, I ran into a former teacher who asked me if I wanted to teach business and that was that. I moved home and taught business at my alma mater for seven years. To make a long story short, after seven years of working long hours, I decided to utilize my major and find a job in the business industry. I was lucky enough to be hired as a human resources coordinator, and I loved it... especially at Hale Makua Health Services, a local long term care facility. Working in the private sector, learning about policies and procedures, having wonderful coworkers, and actually speaking to adults daily... it was a nice change and at that point in my life, a much needed break because teaching is not easy.

Where am I going with this?

If you remember from a previous post, I hinted that I now have a new job. Well... call me a masochist, but I decided to go back into teaching. *Pause for dramatic effect.*  When I left teaching, Jacob was three and still going to the babysitter. Now, he is in public education and has many extracurricular activities. When I was in HR, I realized that I was missing many of his practices, games, and school activities because I could not take off of work. My current role at the school allows me to combine my HR experience with teaching experience, and still provides me the opportunity to go to his activities. Plus, we get all of the same vacations and holidays, and I no longer have to worry about where he will go for the summer or whether we could afford it.

And now, it is summer vacation for the both of us. My first summer with Jacob since he was two years old. Needless to say, we are both excited. We have planned out our entire summer. Here's a sample calendar that we created:

Artwork by Jacob

We welcome suggestions and are willing to swap activities if you would like to suggest them in the comments section.

People always say things happen for a reason and as my life is unfolding, I truly believe this to be true. Whomever is holding my career cards is dealing them to me in a methodical and beneficial way.  Thank you. I love summer!

Baseball Begins

The other day, Jacob had a baseball game. He's had many games before, but this was the first one of the (more serious) coach pitch pony league. It was the bottom of the first inning, and he got placed in the pitcher position, even if he had been practicing outfield the entire time being on this team. He seemed pretty nervous. In that first inning, he had a few errors that caused the other team to score some runs. Runs. They keep score now in this league. Scoring matters. Up until now, in baseball, he's either been in t-ball or in a coach-pitch league where they didn't keep track of who won. It was a different feeling to be watching your son make an error, when scoring mattered. More than anything, I was mad at myself. Furious. Why? I was watching him play, and I felt bad for him that he made an error or two. I was angry that this game would cause me to feel bad. It is supposed to be fun watching your son play, but with the added pressure of winning, it wasn't fun for me. I mean, I'll admit, it got better in the later innings when Jacob picked up two ground balls in outfield and threw it right to the base. But there was still a feeling of pressure.

We went home that day not feeling the greatest.

Then, I realized something.

He's 7. Seriously. When I was 7, I was riding my bike/roller blades, watching tv, or hanging out with my parents. Organized, pressured sports didn't come until the 9th grade, when I could probably handle it better.

He's 7.

My husband and I changed our mindsets that day. I made a personal decision to not care whether they win or lose. With organized sports, he should be learning respect, self-discipline, and teamwork. Not how to win. Of course, if we have time, we will still go to the park and practice throwing or hitting. However, I won't allow me or my son to feel how we did that day. If he continues to feel this way, he won't enjoy baseball, and he should. He's 7.

I'm Back!

Phew. It's been over two years since I last blogged. A major reason I didn't write was because I was contemplating my son's privacy and weighing that with the selfishness of wanting to document his growth. After some (minor) soul searching, I realize now that I enjoy blogging. I am also stuck in a closet-sized office all day, so I need an outlet or might go nuts.  (I have a new job, tell you about it in a future post). In all seriousness, I don't know if anyone reads this anyway. (Aside from my husband and dad - Hi husband and dad!)

Social media has changed since I've been gone, and while I have not been on the writing end, I have still been an active user of Facebook, Instagram, and now Snapchat. Blogging has turned into writing a post, sharing it on Facebook, and hoping it goes viral.  My goal for this blog is not to become famous. My hope is that I will continue to write, share my thoughts, and archive my family's experiences. If you'd like to join me on my journey and check in from time to time, I would love to hear from you! Otherwise, it's okay if I write to myself - I talk to myself all day at work anyway. Ha.


Here's Jacob, who is 7 years old now:

He looks pretty different from all of the photos on this site. I'll be trying to change the layout in the next coming weeks. Hope you have a wonderful day!