Welcome to From Teacher To Tourist, where I invite you to join me on a journey through the captivating intersection of books and travel. Here, we’ll explore the places that sparked our favorite stories and meet the authors who brought them to life. It’s like stepping right into the pages of our most cherished books and experiencing their magic firsthand.
Experience:
Arkansas State University – Bachelor of Science in Education (certified to teach kindergarten – 6th grade)
University of Arkansas – Reading Specialist Certification
Career: 3rd Grade Teacher; Reading Recovery Specialist; Technology Lab Director; Distance Learning Coordinator
Now that we’ve gotten the formal stuff out of the way… I’m KayeCee!
I started teaching elementary way back in 1989. Loved all my littles, but something in my career was missing.
Then 2020 happened… I lost my precious daddy, the world shut down, students were in a constant state of stress, and I began to realize that I felt like I was completely suffocating in my life.
I had become a grandmother and wanted nothing more than free time without utter exhaustion to chase my little honeybees. (My grandma name is Honey.)
Then it happened… at the end of the 2021 school year, I had a freak accident. I opened the door and my 2-year old grandson darted behind me. As I reached to grab him, I lost my balance and the momentum carried me all the way to the edge of the sidewalk where my neck hit the curb.
I don’t remember much but the pain afterwards. Somehow, my daughter managed to hustle me to the emergency room and from the injuries and bruising, the doctor was amazed that I hadn’t broken my neck. The photo below doesn’t show the MASSIVE bruising I had all down my torso.
School ended that Thursday. On Friday morning, I woke up, heard God tell me that I was retired, and even though I was only 54, I didn’t hesitate or question. I had all the retirement paperwork filled out and faxed in within an hour.
I decided that I’d take an entire year off and do absolutely nothing. It’s a good thing I did, because it took me a few months to recover after that… then came COVID and another couple of months of recovery time… then my mom fell ill and I lost her as well.
The second anniversary of my retirement is now here. As my birthday and anniversary approached, I began to feel restless and knew that it was time to start the next chapter of my life.
I don’t want to step foot in a classroom again, but I do love teaching. I also want to spend time with my honeybees whenever I want, so a regular job was out of the question in my mind.
Since 2006, I’ve done an internet side-hustle by designing t-shirts and such. I’d always treated it as a hobby, but realized that I could turn it into a full-fledged business with my own website.
After several weeks of research, I finally decided to open a travel website. Doing so lets me follow my passions… exploring new places… yummy food… writing… photography… teaching… books…
And best of all? I get to chase honeybees any time I want! 🐝🐝🐝
So hitch up your panties, y’all! I’ve got a feeling this is gonna be a fun ride!
