What a long, strange journey it’s been.
Almost a full year since my last posting, and I can barely believe it’s been that long. Today finds me in very different and happier circumstances. At that time I was an Education Supervisor in a Florida prison, looking at a tough next few years, as far as free time was concerned. I have been with the Florida Department of Corrections for almost thirteen years , the first nine as librarian at Union Correctional Institution. I then became the department’s regional librarian for northeast Florida, a job I greatly enjoyed. Unfortunately the budget crunch led to the elimination of all four regional positions, including my own. I was moved to New River Correctional and became an Education Supervisor. This transition necessitated my obtaining first a permanent Florida teaching certificate, and then an education leadership certification. I was looking at several years of part-time classes, not so odious working at a low key place like New River, but then the budget crunch intervened again and New River was closed. I ended up at Hamilton Correctional Institution, complete with daily round trip commute of 150 miles. And it was also a much busier, much more intense place supervising twice as many people. Plus I still had to get the education credentials to keep my job. All that was doable, but things like maintaining websites took a back seat. Way, way back.
But then God changed things up. While I was at New River the number two position in Library Services came open in Central Office. I applied and interviewed, but lost out to a colleague. After two years of doing the job, she left to head a multi-county library system in the Florida panhandle. I applied, and this time the job was mine.
So 2014 finds me moved to Tallahassee, doing work I enjoy, freed from classes, freed from a daily commute. I no longer fill up my gas tank every other day. Instead, I drove the whole first full week of work on less than a quarter tank.
Time. Free time. A wonderful gift.