{"id":1565,"date":"2016-01-22T05:54:02","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T12:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikebellah.com\/wordpress\/?p=1565"},"modified":"2016-01-22T07:44:59","modified_gmt":"2016-01-22T14:44:59","slug":"blogging-through-my-last-semester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/?p=1565","title":{"rendered":"Blogging through My Last Semester"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mikebellah.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mb_color_bestyearsblog-150x15012.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mikebellah.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mb_color_bestyearsblog-150x15012.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"mb_color_bestyearsblog-150x1501\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1566\" \/><\/a>It\u2019s what I intend to do on my way to retirement this May.<\/p>\n<p>Because I want to remember what it was like to be an Amarillo College English teacher.<\/p>\n<p>Because I want my grandkids\u2019 grandkids to know that sometimes life\u2019s best gifts arrive unexpected and unsought.<\/p>\n<p>That was I\u201423 years ago\u2014a lost job, a lost career. I can write. Why not teach it?<\/p>\n<p>Didn\u2019t expect happiness; nor fulfillment. Just needed a job. Something to put bread on the table.<\/p>\n<p>Then, as a teacher, I walked into my first writing class. Magical. I belonged there. Had found my way home.<\/p>\n<p>A few years later, I came to Amarillo College. And here I learned that I was put on earth not only to fix comma splices and dangling modifiers.<\/p>\n<p>I was here to give students what I needed when my life came to an abrupt end at midlife.<\/p>\n<p>I was here to bring hope, and in trying my best to do this for them, I found a happiness and fulfillment I never thought possible.<\/p>\n<p>What a ride! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s what I intend to do on my way to retirement this May. Because I want to remember what it was like to be an Amarillo College English teacher. Because I want my grandkids\u2019 grandkids to know that sometimes life\u2019s best gifts arrive unexpected and unsought. That was I\u201423 years ago\u2014a lost job, a lost [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1572,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions\/1572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}