Back in August 2006, I was thrilled to be overwhelmed with slightly nervous excitement. It was near impossible for me to understand the full impact of accepting a job in my chosen career field—elementary education. I was going to be a first grade teacher!

I was a teacher.

I was helping my students.

I was learning and growing professionally.

I was building my career.

I was using my degree.

I was developing a close-knit community of like-minded professionals.

I was a success!

For seven years, I was, I was, I was…

Since I started teaching, August 2013 marked the first year that I was not.

Not teaching in a classroom setting, that is.

That was the first August that I was a military spouse.

That was the first August that I was living in a brand new state.

That was a milestone August, just like all the rest of them.

To this day, I count years by Augusts, meaning I function on an academic calendar (August to June) instead of a standard calendar (January to December).

I remember by Augusts. 

August 2006: My first year teaching first grade.

August 2011: My first year as a reading coach for grades kindergarten through fifth.

August 2013: My first year as a military spouse and teacher without a classroom.

August 2017: My first-ever first graders were high school seniors–now high school graduates!

I love thinking back over my milestone Augusts. Here I am 13 Augusts later, and…

I’m a teacher.

I’m helping people (some of whom are students!)

I’m learning and growing professionally.

I’m building my career.

I’m using my degree.

I’m developing a close-knit community of like-minded professionals.

I’m a success!

You see, I may be a teacher without a classroom, but I haven’t, for one moment, let go of the valuable skills I honed during those seven teaching years.

In my five years as a military spouse and teacher without a classroom, I’ve accepted three jobs, and I can’t wait to see their full impact hit me like teaching did!

I accepted jobs as cashier in a department store, a bank teller, and an administrative assistant at a university. In all three places, I found little ways to use and enjoy my skills gained through teaching and having a foundation in education.

In my everyday life, I still find little ways to do the same. Just ask my parents who taught them how to use the Xbox controller to watch Hulu and Netflix:

Or ask my friend’s son who showed him how to build card houses:

You get the picture.

There are times as a military spouse where the struggle to maintain your career life while moving around every few years can be  a reason to feel overwhelmed. It’s a less-than-thrilling feeling. I’m coming to the conclusion that even though I haven’t landed that perfect, too-good-to-be-true, work-from-anywhere job, I’m still carrying my skills with me wherever I work and happen to live.

Let me tell you about my current August.

I’m working as an administrative assistant at a university, and this summer, I’m going to bring my skills full circle!

My boss tasked me with presenting to some of this year’s student leaders at their annual training. Maybe my boss knows, maybe she doesn’t, but I take this as such a wonderful compliment. She has essentially asked me to be a teacher!

For two hours, on August 6, 2018, my lucky thirteenth August, I’m lucky enough to still be a teacher.

The moral of my 13 Augusts turns out to be for you, military spouses:

Hold your skills in the highest regard and never let them go.

I bet you’ll pick up valuable skills as you move through your own military life journey. I sincerely believe that wherever your skills stem from, whether that be from a career, education, parenting, homemaking, or just plain old adulting, your skills are yours to forever treasure and use wisely.