By Julie Riggs
English Chair K-7, Lakehill Preparatory School
I’ve always found it odd that the new year begins in midwinter, not spring, but perhaps wintry days are best for reflecting on the past, on the curves and turns in paths that seemed certain, celebrating all the events that brought us to the bright, promising path now stretched before us.
Once, I, who did not learn to swim until I was twenty-three, was sure I would join the Navy as soon as I graduated from high school. Once, I, who can scarcely render a straight line on paper and who am hopeless at sewing anything more complicated than a Christmas stocking, imagined I wanted to study architecture and interior design. I had names picked out for daughters who, despite my certainty, turned out to be sons, and I was sure I would write a sci-fi novel by the time I was twenty-five.
I couldn’t know that teaching would give me more joy and satisfaction than any of those imagined futures, but looking back, it seems that everything in my life was a preparation for being exactly where I belong.
So, no predictions or resolutions for 2018—just anticipation to see where this new path may carry me.
