A fresh new start

Anyone who has been following me for the past two years through facebook or here on my blog knows that the years 2010- beginning 2012 were not my favorite years of life.. by a long shot. Going from the disappointment of coming back from California, almost a year of unemployment and then being faced with the most challenging/horrendous job I've ever had (I don't see how ANYone can voluntarily decide to be around 7th graders)... it's been a rough ride. That's not to say that nothing good happened during that time. I was able to regroup with the people who love me giving me support, I had a great time leading the Gulf Coast EYC, I loved my home parish of St. Peter's By the Sea.... there definitely were bright spots. I did for a long time feel that I had no direction, though... that I was just merely passing time before something big came along. That something DID come along.

So here I am, in Tuscaloosa, in my very own apartment, waiting on the rest of my 36 books for two classes to come in so I can begin a doctorate program in history at The University of Alabama. I'm excited and for a good bit since I accepted the offer, I had no worries or nervousness. That's changed. The gravity of what I'm starting has hit. Whatever I write, whatever I manage to get published, in these five or six years (the longest I'll have lived in one place since my sophomore year in high school), will directly determine where I'll find a job. That's not to say I'm going to be "no-fun-pants Montgomery.." but I'm not going to repeat the approach of Sewanee.

BUT, the whole point of this blog post, besides airing my nervousness, is to simply put into words the awe that I have for this next phase of life. I'm going back to school and when I emerge, I will be Dr. Blount Montgomery and that still amazes me. I have the opportunity to really take the changes I need in my life to live better.... I can take my health more seriously, I will HAVE to take my finances more seriously. I can strive to be a better person and make great friends and put my name out there in a positive manner. I can move beyond the reruns of feeling inadequate (this feeling brought to you by teaching 7th graders for a year) and really step up my game. I've been given a fresh start and I will take full advantage of it.

I'd also like to take this time to thank y'all. If you're reading this, it's likely that you've encouraged me, let me vent to you, took me out for drinks, let me cry or just remind me that you're there for me for the past few years and I thank every single one of you. Some of you reading this might be people I met on the West Coast. Despite the circumstances of my leaving, I value my time there and all I learned in those months.


It's not too often that we're faced with an opportunity to start over in a dramatic way, but when we are faced with that opportunity, it should not be a time to shrug through, or coast on auto-pilot. It is time to step up, to speak out, and to make sure it all counts to someone, if only yourself....