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Thankfully, my regulars, and several others from the town know that I’m really an overprotective marshmallow most of the time. Olive and I made quite a few acquaintances and a handful of friends since we’ve been here for about two years now.
Unfortunately, within those two years I’ve also earned a bit of a bad boy reputation. I generally don’t sleep around, but I also don’t date. There have been a few women who I’ve had mutually beneficial relations with, but those all ended a little unfortunately when they wanted more than I was willing to offer and thought they would be the one to change me.
My general wardrobe of all black and gray and biker boots just leans into that image. My Harley definitely doesn’t help, but its my baby that I restored with my Pops, and there’s no way I’m giving it up. Even if Olive loves to give me the statistics of all the misfortunes that can come my way from my beloveddeathtrapas she likes to call it.
But my bad boy image aside, I’d like to say that I’m finally at a point where I am happy. I have Olive and Pat in my life, a kick ass brewery/bar, and some pretty great customers and friends. I feel settled, and that was something I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel again after what happened in the city with the ones who shall not be named.
Chapter Two
Spencer
Ican’tbelieveanotherschool year is almost over, let only my tenth year of teaching at Sparrow Falls Elementary. I was super lucky to get a placement as a student teacher in one of the kindergarten rooms in my hometown. Turns out my luck was even better when the teacher I shadowed decided she wanted to retire at the end of the year and personally recommended me to take her place. It’s not very often that a 22-year-old lands their dream job, and I am so thankful I was fortunate enough to have that happen to me.
I absolutely love my job and adore my kiddos. We aren’t a wealthy town, but for the most part, most of our residents are well enough off. I don’t have to deal with too many difficult situations, and even when there is a family that may struggle, our community has stepped up time and time again to help but they do it in a way that doesn’t disparage the families that need an extra hand.
I also have the benefit of having a superintendent who is pretty progressive and supportive when it comes to outside the box teaching techniques. She’s also kick ass at writing grants, so we are able to have all the arts and then some for our kids. The after school programs are all free and open to all of the students. And it’s like that for the middle and high schools as well.
I love being able to be the first teacher to influence a child’s future perception of what school is like and instill a love of learning for my students. I know not all of them are going to continue to love it as they grow, but I have the added benefit of being able to do a lot of super fun things disguised as learning.
We do at least one super fun science experiment every week, along with circle story time, and stations where we use different tools from an iPad to goldfish to learn new things. I also have a para, teacher aid, who has become one of my best friends. I know my kiddos are in good hands with Seraphine.
Not only do I have my dream job, but I have the pleasure of living in my hometown and still being close to both of my sisters and my dad. Unfortunately, we lost my mom when we were all young girls. My dad didn’t make me, but I felt as the oldest, I needed to step up and be a good example for my sisters. Because of that, my sisters always tease me about taking things too seriously, but I know they don’t mean it. They just wish I’d let go a little bit every now and then.
It’s not that I’m uptight or anything. I do love going out with them and spending time with my friends, but I’ve never been very spontaneous. I love structure and organization. With three daughters who all played sports and had their own circles of friends, someone had to make sure we all got to where we needed to be on time. My dad did his best, but organization was never his strong suit. That was always mom, so I stepped up and made sure the bills were paid, food was bought, and everyone made it to their games, practices, and all extracurricular activities.
My dad in no way forced me to take on that role. In fact, he always told me he could handle it and to stop worrying, but it was part of my way of coping with losing our mother and feeling closer to her. Once I figured that out for myself and was able to articulate it to him, he backed off and let me handle more responsibilities at the house so that he could focus on the garage and making sure we always had a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes and whatever else we needed.
I thrived on taking care of our family. It was the best coping mechanism for me, and it also led me to my dream job as a teacher. I adored helping my sisters and even my mom used to tell me I was a natural nurturer. Being someone my sisters could look up to, but also someone they could learn from gave me a great sense of self. I knew I was loved, but what was even better, was that both of my sisters did as well. It was a void left by our mother passing early that I strived to fill for them.
It was when I was teaching Emerson long division that my dad asked if I thought about going to college to be a teacher. I knew I loved helping others, but I hadn’t figured out how I wanted to go about doing that yet.
My sisters and I did not lack in any way for the opportunity to be successful in whatever endeavors we chose for our future. We were all good in school which was one of my dad’s requirements if we wanted to do a sport or extracurricular activity. But we weren’t just academically knowledgeable, we were also skilled in a variety of manual labor that we could either make a career out of, or at least be able to live independently and handle all sorts of situations on our own.
In dad’s determination to do right by us, not only did he preach the importance of doing well in school, but he also taught us so many other skills. Being a mechanic by trade, we could all change the oil, filters, trouble shoot minor issues, and eventually change a tire on our own. Emerson was a natural from an early age and loved going to the shop with our dad.
Chayse got his construction bug. Anytime there was any work that needed to be done on the house, she was right there with him. She loved using the power tools and I have no doubt in my mind that she could probably build a house from the ground up.
I didn’t mind the manual labor of construction, and I was damn good at making intricate tile designs that Emerson masterfully laid, but I enjoyed my time with dad learning the business side of things. My mother always did the accounting for the garage, but it wasn’t because my dad was incapable. Sure, she was definitely better, but he also knew how to run his business.
It was his business savvy that landed me my first real job. After we talked a little more about the potential of getting a teaching degree, he told me to reach out to my teachers and ask if they knew of anyone that needed tutoring. I started off with two students and honed in my skill. After that, I posted at every school about my services and started charging a small fee for my tutoring.
I didn’t make a ton of money, but it was the first real taste of having financial independence, and I will always be grateful to my dad for that. I was able to start college with a small nest egg so that I was able to focus on my studies during the year without needing a job. It also helped that I was able to stay at home and commute to the college the next town over.
I couldn’t fathom paying all that money just to live in a dorm on campus when it could go towards books and tuition. I also couldn’t handle being away from my sisters. Sure, Chayse had her own life and was always busy, but Emerson was still young when I started college. I know first hand how precious family is because of the loss of our mother.
Thankfully, both of my sisters took similar steps with their futures. Chayse surprised us when she told us she wanted to be a nurse. We never doubted that she couldn’t do it, but we thought she might lean more towards working construction and getting an engineering degree. She told us while she loves doing that, she didn’t think she’d enjoy it if it was her job and not a hobby. It made sense, because I was the same way with helping dad run the business. Once she told us she wanted to be an ER nurse, it clicked even more. The girl was a wild child in the best way. She was always moving, and an ER was exactly her pace.
She was also able to stay at home and commute to the same college I went to, to get her degree. She was able to attend a two-year degree and get her RN after that. She was working at the local hospital as an aid, so as soon as she was licensed, they offered her a full time job as a registered nurse. She took two more years online to get her BSN and we were so proud of her.
It meant so much to me to be able to be here and witness her wins and to help her through the struggles and the tough times. I am so proud of all of her accomplishments and extremely thankful that she stayed close so we could experience it with her.
Emerson was able to go to the vocational school the next town over once she started high school to get all of her certifications to become a mechanic. I’ve never seen my dad prouder than he was when Em told him that’s what she wanted to do. I was out of the house by that time, but I still had dinner three to four nights during the week with everyone.
Everything we went through bonded us in a way that I could never have imagined when we were all grief-stricken little girls. Even though we are all older living our own lives, mine will always be intertwined with theirs and I will only ever be a phone call and a five minute drive away and I wouldn’t change that for the world.
These past few years have been exciting with career advancements and new relationships. We never thought Chayse would ever put her career second and her relationship first, at least not any time soon, but that’s exactly what happened. I honestly assumed Brant, my boyfriend, and I would be the first ones down the aisle, but Chayse may beat us and I’m okay with that.
Brant and I met at the elementary school when he started teaching there about 7 years ago. I never thought I would date a coworker, but he was sweet and persistent without being pressuring. Like Chayse, at the time that we met, I was focused on my career and helping with my sisters. I didn’t really think I was ready for anything serious. Brant was very understanding about that.
