My New Job

This past week was my first full week at Milton Academy as a College Counselor.  It was an emotional week for me.  I was happy to be there, surrounded by talented new colleagues and a bunch of other new teachers who were genuinely nice and thrilled to be at Milton.  But I was sick inside missing my old colleagues and missing my boys.

The worst part of the new job is easily the commute.  It seemed so EASY to drop the boys off at daycare near the house and then take the bus 4 miles to Harvard to the office.  I knew I was close by if I had to go get them, and my commute never seemed to take too long.  Hell, I knew I could WALK home if I had to.  But now, there's no easy way for me to get to work.  I either have to take 128 and go way around the city and out of my way or I have to go through the city and face the possibility of traffic.  It's only about 18/19 miles from Watertown to Milton (each way) but with the traffic it feels more like 40.  But, I have to put things in perspective.  It actually used to take me 40 minutes each way to get to Harvard! I used to walk 15 minutes to the bus, and the bus often hit traffic on Mt. Auburn St.  So it wasn't exactly a fast ride to work.  To Milton, if traffic isn't too bad, it's about 30-40 minutes as well. I guess it's more of a psychological thing--when you're sitting in traffic it feels so much longer!

The second worst thing about the new job is missing my old colleagues.  Even though I don't miss the job itself at Harvard too much, I do miss the talented people I worked with.  Charlie if you are ever reading this--here's a shout out to you.  I miss you a ton.  You've been such a support and a rock to me over the past 4 years.  I LOVED having you right next door to my office.  I LOVED having you on the same docket as me.  I LOVED walking to the farmer's markets with you!  And I miss everyone else too.  A LOT.

My new colleagues are great, though.  I do really like them, and I already feel at ease with them.  They have been friendly and welcoming, and they have also expressed the desire to help me out in any way they can.  There is a sense of teamwork in that office that is a relief to me given the team environment I'm coming from at Harvard.

The third worst thing is having to write 45 recommendation letters for kids I've never even met before.  It's TOUGH.  Reading admissions folders has given me a pretty good eye for what makes a kid tick...I think I can read a folder and have a pretty good sense of what the actual person is like.  But not always.  So right now I have to rely purely on quotes from teachers and notes that the other counselors have taken during their meetings with these students.  The good news is that all of us write these letters.  So when I'm done with the draft, each other person in the office will read my letters and add to it or edit it.  So if they have personal experiences with the student or a funny story, we can add them in to make the letter more powerful.  And they will also be reading my letters to make sure my interpretation of the student from the folder is actually accurate.  But even writing the draft is tough!  Plus, I find it hard to let my peers see my work.  I'm glad for their help, but also sort of intimidated by what their suggestions will be.  What if my letters absolutely suck!?  The Milton "style" of writing letters is impressive, but as an admissions officer, I would have had to weed through a lot of fluff to get to what I really needed.  Still, they are so well written that they really do provide a great sense of who the person is.  The counselors say that on a good day, they might write 2 letters...and I have 45 to write before the middle of October?  And I'm slow at it because I'm brand new?  Do the math...I won't have time for much for the next month and a half! :(

That brings up another point.  I'm going to be at Milton late quite a few evenings this fall.  Many more than I anticipated.  For faculty meetings, advisor meetings, college fairs, college programs, etc.  It's scary to look at my calendar right now because it makes me feel like I'll NEVER see the boys at bedtime again.  Carlos is going to have do an awful lot of nights on his own.  Thank God it's getting easier to bathe the boys and feed them and put them to bed.  They are less fussy at night lately.  I was starting to feel really down about all the time away from them and thinking maybe I should have stayed at Harvard.  But the thing I have to remember is that I went back to Harvard for the 3 months of the year that I DON'T have to stay late.  For pretty much September-May, I had to stay late a lot at Harvard, too.  I had to do scholarship assigning, late admissions nights reading, prepping, and sitting in meetings, financial aid award calcing, and then APRIL recruiting.  It would have been horrible with the boys.  I somehow seem to keep forgetting how tough those months are....so in the end, I think my current job will actually offer me more time at home.

And then there's summer.  I will have next summer off unless I decide to get a job.  I would NOT have next summer off if I'd stayed at Harvard.  So, I have to pray we get housing for next year on campus and that a spot at the Milton daycare opens up.  Although I'm sad about that too.  I love our daycare in Watertown and am not particularly happy or excited about the idea of transferring them to the Milton daycare.  But we'll see...

At the end of the day, I'm 99.9% sure that Milton WAS the right move.  I think I'll feel better once the kids are on campus, I've settled into a routine, and I've put a larger dent in writing more of these recommendation letters.  On a positive note, I get free lunch at Milton and they gave me an iPad.  ;)  And I've already written 6 letters.  Only 39 to go!!!