What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

This week's guest blogger is Shelby (Fisher) Hurst, a proud native of Fairfax, wife, teacher, and momma-to-be.  If you don't know Shelby, you just have to read this and you'll be delighted she chose to come back home!

I never went through the phases of wanting to be different things when I grew up, like a princess, a doctor, or a fire fighter. There was only one thing I wanted to be and that was a teacher. I would play school and I never was just “a teacher”, I was a teacher at Fairfax R3. When asked what I wanted to do when I grew up I would proudly state “I want to come back and be a teacher here.”

When I met my husband, a Tarkio Indian, he thought my love of Fairfax was endearing. I was finishing my last year at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. I had plans of moving home after I completed the year and student teaching in Atchison County, first pick being my hometown. I had been a substitute teacher in the district for two years and my love of the school and its bright staff only grew.

I was excited and nervous when I found out that I would be student teaching at grand old Fairfax, for first and third grade. I got to know the students, new faculty, and community in a way I never had before, through the eyes of an educator. Every morning I would report to the school, taking on as many responsibilities as I could to get the full effect.

In December of 2011 I graduated with a degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Early Childhood. I also got married on New Years Eve to Brett, the same man who was learning just how passionate I was about my little town. (I think he sometimes questioned which I loved more, him or Fairfax.)

I started working at Tarkio Elementary in January as a Teacher’s Aide. Soon my husband and I found out we were expecting! I thought of all the struggles a first year teacher wades through and worried about juggling it with being a first time mother. My husband and I prayed about it and decided if I was going to work God would have to put my dream job in my hands, otherwise I’d be taking a year off as a teacher and on as a full time mommy.

Time went by and it looked like I would be filling my days with diapers and feedings, instead of math lessons and grading. However, in June I was surprised to find out that Fairfax had a job opening for fifth grade. This was the opportunity my family had been praying for, a way to be at the school I cherished. The only question was whether this was God giving me a ‘green’ light. My husband and I decided I needed to take the jump. So I jumped and was hired as Fairfax R3 fifth grade teacher. A bulldog once more!

My summer quickly went from baby preparations to classroom preparations. I started tackling my classroom, lesson plans, and all the duties that started filling my days as a teacher. On August 13th I had my first day with all the other teachers. I became a sponge for their knowledge.

Before I knew it, the first day of school was here! As the students filed into our classroom I began my first day as a real Fairfax R3 teacher. What a day it was! The first three half days flew by in a blur of classroom expectations, getting to know you activities, and birthdays (there were three in the first week!). As I left that Friday night to head to the park for the Fairfax Fair I couldn’t believe how blessed I was to be starting on the journey I’d dreamed of since I was a little girl; a journey I would get to travel for thirty years. However, I guess this journey started the first time someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. A journey that will go hand in hand with raising a new little bulldog!

My Fair Lady

Ever grown weary of beige? I did. About 9 years ago, I was tired of beige. Beige siding, beige carpet, beige furniture.  Beige defined the world of rentals and subdivisions. Miles and miles of beige vinyl siding with two car garages plopped down in a world of concrete with a cute name like Stoney Brook or Silver Lane. 

After five years of beige rentals, I knew I could not raise my children in a home devoid of personality and charm. I could not commit to another lease agreement in a world where my home was only distinguishable from the surrounding fleet by the number outside the door.

Instead, I envisioned a future where my children could claim a yard, a house and a whole town as their home and it mean more than just an address. I wanted to find that house that my children would identify with happiness, safety, comfort and uniqueness in town where they could be “from.” 

My Fair Lady

On a fall day in 2002, my husband and I trotted across the yard of a home for sale in my home town of Tarkio. The leaves had turned gorgeous shades of yellow and orange and were ankle deep in the yard of this house that had been on the market for over a year. Matt hoisted me up on his shoulders so I could peak in the window of this 100 year old Victorian. Original woodwork, high ceilings and a turret…this was no beige.

In December of 2002, we made this house our home for a mortgage payment hundreds of dollars less than our rent in Kansas City. In the years that followed, we added gutters, storm windows, paint, gardens and a drive way. We added a baby boy in 2003, a little girl in 2007 and filled the last bedroom in 2010 with another sweet little boy. Over time, we have stained the carpet, put dents in the walls and had to break down the bathroom door after my son locked himself in.  We’ve  laughed in times of joy and cried in sorrow with our neighbors. 

                                                            

Best part of this home is not just its charm, its uniqueness and its history. Best part of this home is that everyone knows that’s where the Schlueters live. That’s Aaron’s house. That’s Josh’s baby swing. Look, Lizzie left her bike in the driveway. Matt must be home early tonight. His pickup is in the driveway. Call Ann. She left the van lights on again.

What we are lacking in concrete and beige, we make up for in identity. That’s Ann’s house. That’s my home. Friends, that’s where WE are from.

                                                                    

No offense intended to those beige loving folks...there's enough love for us all!