"The life you have led does not need to be the only life you have." -Anna Quindlen

Life Well Lived

Spring is for the Dreamers

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Alaskan winters are long, dark, and cold.  Then suddenly you wake up one day in late May and summer has arrived!  It seems like spring here doesn’t get to show off the way it does in other places, where it is celebrated with flower festivals and allergy meds. Here, spring is a subtle mistress, showing herself with gradually increasing daylight hours and a reprieve from the sharp bite of winter air. But in Alaska, the primary color of spring is a rather uninspiring brown.

See? Brown. I mean I get it, there's a huge majestic mountain and everything.  But it's no PNW tulip festival. 

See? Brown. I mean I get it, there's a huge majestic mountain and everything.  But it's no PNW tulip festival. 

Don’t be fooled though, even in Alaska the world is waking up to the possibilities of a new year; a new season of life after the simple survival of winter hibernation. Moose return to the yard, bears come down from their mountain dens, a variety of birds return from their winter migration, and Tim lets us know there are all kinds of new things to be sniffed.

This spring in particular is revealing some exciting new growth in the Tombers household after the recent season of seed planting and baby stepping. Let me tell you about a few of the things coming to fruition in our lives.

We are moving

After nearly 5 years in Alaska, we are moving back to Minneapolis in September.  Being here has undoubtedly been a blessing to us in many ways, but it is time for us to return to our roots for a while.  We are looking forward to some urban walkability after our time in the largest state in the nation, and we are eager to write the next chapter of our story in the place where we first began.  Plus, Minneapolis is full of people we love, and it doesn't hurt that it makes a great launch pad for some more traveling around “the lower 48”.

Brad is changing careers

While being an educator in Alaska can be more financially rewarding than anywhere else in the country, it has been quite an emotionally draining experience.

I am incredibly proud of his hard work and desire to make a difference in the lives of his students. And he has. In just 4 years of teaching he has been nominated twice for the BP Teacher of Excellence Award, has helped lead the Science Olympiad Team to two second place trophies, and has had an impressive number of students pass their AP Exams. Perhaps more importantly, he has served as friend, role model, mentor, and positive influence in the lives of many of his students, and has built relationships that are reminiscent of some of the most important teachers we had in our own high school days - people who we still keep in touch with today.  

But the broken nature of both the typical American family life and the US education system combine to make the job of a teacher an incredibly difficult one. It is a job with increasingly more bad days than good it seems, and it is time for a change. After this school year Brad will be transitioning into the world of data science, where he can collaborate with others to help solve important problems. 

I am writing words for money

Over the past few months I have been networking, researching, learning, writing, and generally putting myself out there in the freelance writing world.  Through that work I have built a respectable portfolio of published work, and am excited for the experiences that will arise out of this pursuit of passion.  I think the greatest thing to come out of this process is the level of confidence I have seen grow in myself, and the amount of self doubt I have seen wash away through the simple act of trying something I thought I couldn't do. While I am not yet where I would like to be, each little accomplishment feels like something to celebrate. 

I am teaching

Ironically enough, as Brad transitions out of teaching, I am transitioning into it.  Ever since I became a Clinical Instructor for students going through their internship requirements, I have had a desire to do more teaching.  This summer I have the opportunity to teach a class in the Physical Therapy Assistant program at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. I am incredibly excited and grateful for this chance to pursue a dream, and I am hoping it serves as a launch pad to more teaching opportunities back in MN.

 

To you, it may seem as though we are doing a lot of new stuff all of a sudden.  But we have been laying the groundwork for these new experiences for months - dreaming, working, reaching out, creating stepping stones for ourselves.  And although these opportunities may be partly due to luck or being in the right place at the right time, we have been doing the background work to set ourselves up for success.  Over the proverbial winter we have been grinding, so that when these springtime doors begin to open we are ready to step through them with confidence.

Check out this post I wrote for Mr.JamieGriffin for more insight on setting, tackling, and achieving goals to create the life you’re dreaming about.

 

"The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do."

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

 

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Here's to the warmth of that first nourishing spring sun on your face after a winter's worth of chilly survival. There's greatness ahead!