I never envisioned that I would take a non-traditional deviation from my career at 32 years old. I grew up in a world where you go to college, get a job, find a new job before quitting the former, have employer-based health coverage, and a 401k. Changes to work may mean relocating, something that I did three times in 9 years: Maine to Maryland after college; up to Philly three years later (plus grad school in the City of Brotherly Love); and most recently, three years in Washington, DC. In short, I follow the rules; hell, as an assistant principal, I made a lot of the rules!
And when it started not feeling quite right, as a dutiful, committed employee, I adapted. I bended, folded, Twister-ed myself to the point where I didn’t feel like me anymore and I wasn’t giving my best self to my students (or to me). Concurrently, I lost both of my grandmothers within 6 months and the time away from family for the past 9 years (17 years total if you include boarding school and college) began to flash like a warning light – it was time to recalibrate.
So in January, I decided to leave my position at the end of the school year without knowing my next steps. Six weeks later, COVID-19 forced us to go remote, and rethink everything we knew about pedagogy, policies, and processes. During this time, I applied for other traditional administrative jobs in schools, but nothing felt like a fit. I was also working toward earning my USCG license to consider sailing full time, but of course that too was disrupted by the pandemic. After many conversations with family and friends, especially with my roommate of 6 years, I started to view this uncertainty more like an opportunity.
It wasn’t until I arrived in my home state of Maine at the end of June, after a brain-scraping (negative!) COVID test and quarantine, that I began to think about what a “sabbatical” could bring. Flying was (is?) still worrisome and international borders were closed, and so that meant a US-based road trip. Taking into account where COVID cases were still rising, I knew that I wanted to be in a location with space to roam. Prior to the pandemic, two of my friends and I had been planning a trip from Denver to Glacier National Park, so I began to consider what fall out west could look like.
I only had 3 conditions as I searched for a location – easy access to the outdoors, pet-friendly trails and housing, and wifi (I’m still teaching online – more to come about that!). I honed in on western Montana, close to Flathead Lake, started following a plethora of Instagram accounts, and I was sold. This is where Scout and I had to go and see what directions we’ll navigate and perspectives we’ll learn from.
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Sabbatical with Scout 