"Were you consistent?" Mr. Gay wanted to know.

"Were you consistent?" my Honor's English teacher, Mr. Gay, asked me during the first week of my senior year of high school. He had asked me to T.A. for him, and he was teaching me how to evaluate and grade student writing from his freshman English classes. He gave me a set of essays to score, and when I finished and returned them, he read only the one on top. "This looks good," he said. "If you were consistent with all the others, then I don't need to look at them. Were you consistent?"

In that moment, I realized two things: (1) I had no idea if I'd been consistent in my scoring of those papers, and (2) that one day I would teach English professionally. I'm sure back then I was thinking high school, but thank heavens (!) at some point thereafter, I had a better idea. 

Education is a core value in our family. We were committed to helping our kids financially through their undergraduate degrees, and next May, our fifth and final kid will complete his bachelor's (Go, Seth!). So far, only Luke has moved on to earn a graduate degree (Ph.D in psychology), but I think both Shulamith and Eli will pursue master's degrees at some point, and Seth will for sure need grad school of some sort.

Still, I wouldn't have predicted that so many of us would remain in fields related to education. This week, five of us returned for the 2023-2024 school year!

As mentioned above, Seth began his senior year at Utah Valley University, completing a B.S. degree in sociology and criminal justice.

Eli returned to Ridge View Elementary, teaching 3rd grade. He says the kids are small! (Compared to his 4th graders last year.)

Shulamith made a roller coaster jump from teaching part time at Salt Lake Community College the past few years to teaching half-day kindergarten at her kids' elementary school. She teaches a morning class and is home by 12:30, and all three of her kids are so happy she's at their school.

I don't have a "Back-to-School" picture of him, but Dr. Luke Erichsen continues in his position as a school psychologist for the Maryland School District. 

And I'm still chillin' with my adjunct gig, teaching freshman writing courses at Utah Valley University, Salt Lake Community College, and (for the first time) The University of Utah! It's way too many classes this time around, but if I don't die, I'll try to pare that down spring semester.

Here's to the 2023-2024 academic year, everyone! I'm predicting awesomeness for all of us.

(One final note: Mr. Gay passed away four years ago at age 90. If you're watching from above, Mr. Gay, know that you were my mentor and hero as an English teacher, and to this day, I try hard to be consistent in my grading.)