My Epiphany; Who I am and who I am not...

My name is Veronica Wagner... I am from Indiana, but currently live in Salt Lake City, Utah. I am here in Utah with my husband, Daren and pup, Aspen.  Daren and I are both in our seventh year of teaching Health and PE at two different public middle schools in the Salt Lake valley.

Daren and I met in college in Indiana. We had the same classes and became friends. Soon after, we started dating and fell in love. Time flew and we graduated the same year. That summer, Daren had taken a trip to Greece with some professors and classmates for a presentation they had prepared in a college course (I am still upset that I was never in that class, by the way). I shouldn’t be too upset though, for at that same time Daren went on his trip, I had taken a trip to the Republic of Panama with my family to see my mother’s relatives. Soon after Daren and I return from our trips, we got engaged, adopted a pup, and decided we should apply all over the nation (even Alaska) for teaching jobs since the Midwest was cutting funding for classes such as art, music, and PE. We didn’t mind going elsewhere, especially since we most likely wouldn’t have received a teaching job in the Midwest anyway. Therefore, we made a pact. Our pact stated that we would go to the first place where one of us was offered a teaching position. That’s exactly what we did. Daren accepted a teaching job over a Skype interview (you should ask him what he was wearing for the interview) for his current school in Salt Lake. We packed up as much as we could in a moving truck with Daren’s Pontiac attached, and my Nissan following behind and drove almost 31 hours to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Daren’s school-year started, and I had not found a teaching job. With all the expenses from moving, along with the monthly expenses, Daren and I were barely surviving. Daren didn’t get his first check until about 2 months of living in Utah. During that time, I was doing some substitute teaching gigs, working at the Boys and Girls Club, and continued searching for a teaching position. It went a while before I, too, received any checks. With some praying, luck, and good skill in being able to manage our money, Daren and I were able to get by with expenses.  Credit cards were a godsend. I also became blessed with a teaching position. Almost six and a half years later, Daren and I are still in Utah teaching at the same schools where we accepted positions, living in a nice home in a nice area, and travelling to places we always dreamed of going, but never imagined we would even have the opportunity.

Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

Daren and I decided to get married in Utah even though the closest family member at the time was my sister in Arizona. We figured since he is from Wisconsin, and I’m from Indiana that there wasn’t a “mid-point” area between our families that we were familiar with where we could plan and have the wedding. Therefore, we decided it would be a great idea to have the wedding in Utah. It would be a great excuse for our families and friends to have the opportunity to travel. Both of our families used to be “home-bodies” so travelling rarely existed growing up. We were proud we made the decision to have our wedding in Utah so our families especially were obligated to go somewhere new. I want to say our families weren’t as excited as we were. In fact, they thought it was odd that we were having our wedding in a place in which we weren’t very familiar. However, the wedding turned out beautifully and our families and friends loved Utah so much that they planned a trip to come back soon after they arrived back home. Daren and I were so happy that everyone enjoyed the place we spontaneously chose to live and grew to love so much.

All of these events that took place in my life within a matter of a couple of years really made me think about how much Daren and I were able to accomplish. Thoughts about what people had said really made me ponder what more we were capable of doing! Still to this day when we tell our story of when we moved to Utah, we have many people ask us questions. “Why Utah?!” “So you and your husband came out to Utah just for teaching jobs? Well, one teaching job at the time?” “You moved to Utah even though neither one of you had ever been here before?” “You moved to Utah even though you didn’t know anybody?” “You moved to Utah right after college?”

Blarney Stone, Ireland

After thinking about these questions, I at first thought that maybe we were crazy. However, when I really thought about it, I knew that the 6 and a half years ago, uncertain opportunity was something that both Daren and I really wanted to do. We had to take a risk if we wanted a chance at receiving teaching jobs and bettering lives for ourselves. Though scared at first, we made it work. Better yet, we made it amazing. In my mind, I think that it was an accident that Daren’s and my life endeavors at that time in our lives allowed me to develop my current mindset that we should, must, and need to take risks in life. In my mind, taking risks and living life means going to new places, loving it, and making the best possible happen no matter what you have in your pocket. As an outcome of our accomplishments, a new goal arises: to travel the world. Being teachers and all, we must find cheap ways to do so. 

Nyhavn, Copenhagen

Therefore, our new challenge lies ahead: to travel on a teacher’s budget.