They say friendship is like peeing your pants. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel it’s warmth. That especially goes for teacher friends. They become like your family if you pick the right people. I was lucky enough to find those people.

When I started at my school in 2014, I only knew one, maybe two people. Starting at a new school in a new profession was a daunting task and I was shaking like Bambi learning to walk.

See I have no idea what friends are like in any other profession, but I have a feeling that they aren’t anything like having teacher friends. Other professions seem like people are for the most part out for themselves to get ahead. Teachers are more collaborative by nature, more likely to make each other look good, because at the end of the day we all will look good. If we can all make at least one more student understand something or maybe pass a subject, we all look better.

My squad has been there for the best days and the worst days in my life and I’ve been there for the best and worst days for them. We’ve been there for weddings, funerals, tenure decisions, good observations and bad. We’ve had our laughs and fights. We’ve been on mass transit and have seen some truly horrid things together. There is one incident in particular where we decided that that was the tipping point where we would have our children call each other Aunt and Uncle. When I walked into the school scared beyond all belief, I never thought I’d find my best friends. I know I sound hella sappy but when you find friends like these, you need to hold onto them.

Now we’ve hit a new chapter in our lives, we’re moving on to new schools. Are they at the same time? No, some of us are stuck in the tar pit a little while longer. I am super excited for my friends that are moving on. Sometimes a school starts out as what you think is a perfect fit, but turns out to be suffocating.

As a teacher, you need to molt sometimes. Some teachers molt like snakes. That’s because they are snakes. But not this squad. They molt like Mr. Krabs did right before he met up with his Navy buddies. He outgrew his shell, but realized that his friends still wanted to be around him.

Years from now we’re going to look back at the few years before the dark cloud and realized that it was the good ole’ days. But I think this crew’s best days are ahead.