Is This Some Sort of Joke?

I took a strengths test at work that suggested I consider teaching as an occupation, and it made me cry a little. That's not a joke. I never wanted to be a teacher, and although I find it rewarding to be a part of the life stories of all of these kids, I spend a little part of every day dreaming about something more. So, it was a bit of a shock that this (albeit potentially flawed) strength test was telling me that I am already doing something that is a good match for my skill set.

I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe I thought that it would come back with large bold print and lots of exclamation points and say that I am wasting away a mass of skill and talent by being in the classroom. I think I thought that it would help me create a new future by seeing something in me, that I couldn't find, that would make me perfectly suited for some other, awe-inspiring, career.

Clearly, that didn't happen. Now what? Well, there is only one way to go. Now I must be the most amazing teacher ever to wear a teacher ID badge and have an ugly picture on the faculty page of the yearbook. I must read more than I have ever read, and I must go to more conferences than I have ever been to. I must write referrals and merits with my nicest pen, and get my teeth whitened so that when I greet the kids with a smile every day, it is the whitest smile they have ever beheld. And, truthfully, I am a bit relieved. I don't think there is another job where I could be a counselor, comedian, performer, judge, professor, singer, and poet all in the same day. Maybe, just maybe, this teaching thing will work out!