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On my solo walk home from work tonight, a thought occurred to me.  It really wasn't anything life altering or earth shattering - in fact it should actually be pretty obvious to any normal person.  But for some reason this thought hadn't really resonated with me until tonight.  I'm a teacher!  For the better part of the last decade I've so admired the most talented of teachers I've been lucky enough to call 'my own' at a given point in time.  From the person who inspired me to pursue teaching as a career (McCormick - my English teacher in high school) to the person who has inspired me most recently that I was able to learn so many life lessons from (Michelle Inderbitzin - one of my favorite sociology professors at Oregon State), I've always held teachers in such high regard.  I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to experience the feeling of leading a classroom, to be teaching and interacting and working with a group of young people who I can inspire to think outside the box or cultivate innovative and brand new thoughts and ideas of their own.  I'm loving every minute of it, even the difficult ones when I have to discipline an adorable 10 year-old girl, or when a junior high student calls me "fat lady" (<-- yes this happened tonight).  Taking the good with the bad, I'm completely enthralled with this new chapter in my life, and feel so honored to be able to work in the position I am working in right now.  Just some thoughts that were on my mind tonight..