This Time of my Life

Serendipity, according to Merriam-Webster.com, is “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” Serendipity? Divine providence? “It was meant to be”? All of these have been used to describe why I am here on Ocracoke– by me and by others.

I certainly was not looking for a job on a barrier island. Well, I guess I was, because here I am! And as someone told me long ago, “they aren’t recruiting door-to-door.” (Okay, so he was talking about IBM when I was considering leaving education after my first stint but wasn’t actively doing anything to better my situation.)

The backstory: I was thinking about retiring or even looking for another school when the district where I was teaching announced a RIF because of budget cuts. And as often is the case, “last hired, first fired. And it just so happened that I was the last math teacher hired. In the right place at the right time? Perhaps. Had I made the decision sooner to leave my long-term position in another district, I might have been the next-to-last hired! And that would not have been a good thing for either me or the school.

And so I began looking at employment opportunities in various districts across the state, but mostly within driving distance of home. For some reason, on Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend (2016), soon after learning I would be laid off, I searched for Ocracoke School. Turned out they needed a math teacher. Who’d a thunk? I had jokingly told my family during a couple of brief day trips to the island that I was going to teach there, but none of us believed it. Maybe they still don’t.

Sent an email that night. Had a phone call early the next morning from the principal, who was golfing in Tennessee. We chatted and set a time to Skype later in the week. The time came and I sat in my classroom looking at my little phone, unable to get Skype to load on my computer. So on that tiny screen, with a custodian unlocking my door and proceeding to dustup my floor while I talked, I had a short interview with three people alternating in the  chair at their computer and by the end of the day, I had a job offer!

And then it occurred to me that I would need a place to live! Preferably a furnished place; putting my mattress on top of my car, driving for five plus hours and then riding the ferry for nearly three more hours sounded pretty daunting. And then I remembered that my sister-in-law’s mother has a little house here. A few texts, emails and phone calls later and the problem was solved. 

Thanks to the encouragement and support, in various measure, of family and friends, I made the decision to teach at Ocracoke School. Fast-forward about ten weeks and load up the car. And I mean REALLY load up the car! It’s an eight hour trip and if you don’t take it with you, chances are you won’t find it on the island!

Head east and board the ferry toward my big adventure. Five or so hours on the road and then nearly three hours on the water, and I arrived. 

 

The very next day, I walk into Ocracoke School not knowing anyone. I had literally not met a single soul in person, since the interview was virtual! But what a wonderful group of colleagues I found that day. I have had the great fortune to teach with a lot of fine educators– fine people!– at all my schools. But this group welcomed me so heartily. Many of them grew up on the island. Most of the others have been here a long time. Everybody knows everybody. It would be easy for them to simply accept or tolerate a newcomer, an older teacher who lives alone, but they have embraced me and made me feel like I am one of them. And the school is such a special place, from the wooden dolphin out front to the much-used playground in the back and the all-wood space in between.

Being here is more than just teaching in a tiny school, made up of about 175 children in grades pre-K through 12. It is also about living in an environment unlike any I have ever known. The first 22 years of my life and then eight additional ones when I first got married (and had my three babies) were spent in Boone, in those beautiful Appalachian mountains. The rest of the years before I came here (never mind how many!) were spent in Raleigh (between the Boone stints) and Lewisville, both in the state’s Piedmont flatlands.

I have always enjoyed the beach but have also always said I would not want to live at the beach. And yet, here I am. And the beach, the sand, the ocean… they call to me as I never imagined they could.

Almost every day I can be found walking on the beach. If it is simply too cold or too windy (I was warned: Q: You say you have been here; have you been here in the winter? A: No, but I grew up in Boone. Response: You’ll be fine!), then I walk in the village where one is a bit sheltered from the wind. And not only does the physical climate change from season to season, so does the entire atmosphere. The hustle and bustle of the “visitor” season ends; many restaurants and shops close. The island settles into a slower pace. When I go out to walk at lunchtime or after school, I know almost everyone I meet. And when I am walking on the beach, I rarely even meet anyone. (Few, it seems, are as stalwart as I when it comes to walking on that glorious stretch of sand!)

Serendipity? Seems an apt word. For the big things, yes. But also for the lesser ones. Little things that hardly make a difference even in my own grand scheme, much less the grander scheme, but still “right place, right time” moments.

Each year a golf cart is raffled off as a fundraiser for local causes, including the Ocracoke Community Park. When I visited in June last year, to check out the island and my house, I bought one ticket. Four months later I got a phone call telling me I had won the golf cart! An additional bit of happenstance: Who called me? A guy who is friends with an old high school friend of mine, who was at Appalachian State when I was there! (PS I certainly never expected to own a golf cart!)

You might have noticed my outfit. Not exactly regulation teacher wardrobe. One of the surprising joys of teaching in this union school is getting to interact with the little people. I have made visits to their classrooms as Mrs. Pumpkin (new role for her coming tomorrow), Lucky Leprechaun, and the Easter Bethy. When I see them in the lunchroom or on the playground– or even in the village with their parents– they greet me with hugs and squeals and “you’re the Pumpkin/ Leprechaun/Bunny!” (And actually, I heard one of the older elementary kids say, “Look! It’s a carrot! Um… no!) What fun!

Last November when I returned to the island after Thanksgiving with my family, I headed straight to the beach. It was a beautiful, warm Sunday afternoon. And a pod of dolphins was enjoying the water just offshore. Camera always at the ready, I started snapping. Right place, right time? You be the judge.

The Ocracoke ponies have been around for a long time. Last May a new little one, Miss Jobelle, joined the herd and Ocracoke students were given the opportunity to visit her within days of her birth. Field trips are not my thing, but I was happy to chaperone this one! Just another stroke of good luck on my part, being here for this experience. Jobelle is growing up to be a fine mare; she and her mother are still in a separate area but are closer to the other horses, and they will soon join them in the large enclosed (for their safety) Pony Pen.

Whether wonderful discoveries on the beach are made because of being in the right place at the right time or simply because I am there a lot– or something in between–I must say that I have come across some wonderful finds! The lovely little bird below is a snow bunting, rarely seen this far south. (Rarely enough that my photo is featured in the local newspaper this month!) People frequently post about having come here or to other beaches and “never found a sand dollar/ sea star/ Scotch bonnet.” One spectacular late evening last winter I found a dozen sea stars and a dozen intact Scotch Bonnets (our state shell, but still a rare find)! And this intimidating crab– how can one not be impressed by him?!

And by the way, I never even knew there was such a thing as a white pelican, much less dreamt I would see them!

How did I end up teaching at Ocracoke School? It was meant to be? Divine providence? I don’t really know. Once I had 39 (yes, thirty-nine!) students in a single class– with lunch in the middle of class and the mandate to prepare them for not one but two state end-of-course tests. This year I will have a total of 36 students in my six classes! Yes, we still have state tests. And yes, my space is much smaller also but still… if you have ever taught school, you know the difference this makes. For 19 years I drove half an hour to get to work at my last two schools. Now I can walk to school in half that time. Don’t get me wrong. I still earn my paycheck. There are challenges here just as there are in any school. In any job. But being here, in this place, in this time of my life, there are definite benefits.

Here is another example of being in the right place at the right time. This year, when I came back after Thanksgiving at home with my family, I went to the beach– of course. I noticed a few mounds of sand near the high tide line, but I walked in the opposite direction as I usually do. There were a couple of fishermen near there so I figured the sand piles were something they did. A couple of days passed with the same scenario. After three or four days, the mounds were still there so I decided to check them out. The beach is ever-changing because of the tides and wind. And this is what I found: 

The words “GIVE THANKS,” painstakingly spelled out in sand. Each letter was about three feet high and at least eight inches deep. I read them. I marveled at the work involved in creating this message, which I had overlooked for several days. And I gave thanks. And that very night, the next high tide was higher than usual and it wiped out the letters.

And I give thanks. For this place. For this opportunity. For this decision. Serendipity? Meant to be? A blessing? Yes, a blessing.