I'd Go Back and Do It All Again

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck

Marianne had an interesting tag on her blog the other day that I'm borrowing for my own:

Choose 5 life situations you would repeat in slow motion (not change at all, but just repeat). Here we go:

1. College. All 4 years of it, even the icky, hard, and heartbreaking parts. It was such an enormous experience, that changed me (mostly for the better) in so many aspects and showed me who I was and who I was capable of becoming. Plus for the most part, it was fun!! Almost all of it.

2. The 2nd and 3rd years I lived in Cleveland (I was there for 4; the 1st and 4th weren't so hot). But the middle two: I was finishing grad school, teaching full-time for the first time in my life, I had great friends I spent almost all my time with, and the city was booming with great sports teams and new construction and a night life that has since died away. Sigh. I really do miss it.

3. My first year living and teaching here in Orange County, NY. I moved to a place I never heard of, to take a newly created job that was resented by a number of current teachers. It was the most challenging year of my professional life -- but I also met some wonderful people, including my husband!

4. Traveling to Europe with my husband, sister, and brother-in-law the summer of 2005. It was my first time abroad, and I loved every part of it, even hiking for 2 days in the Alps in the pouring rain. Yup, even that. I love experiences where you really get outside your comfort zone. I think you learn the most about yourself then.

5. May 2006. The class of 2006 was one of the best group of students I ever taught. They were 16 girls who got along marvelously and were the highest achievers I'd seen together in one room. That spring, we went on a conference to NYC and met a world-renowned teacher from CA, who was so impressed by my girls that 2 weeks later he came to our tiny classroom to talk to them some more. We went to each other's softball games and plays (and sadly, one parent's funeral). And we all cried together on the last day of school, when they gave me a card that said, "You have shown us the kind of woman we want to become."

I'm not tagging anyone, but if you want to, share your own 5 life situations you'd repeat in slow motion, either in a comment here or your own blog post. It's interesting to think about...