Matthew Knott

12 months ago, we were in Hell. In the last couple of months that situation has completely reversed and things never looked brighter.

My Wife, The Teacher

The title may sound overly sentimental, but it's hard not to be when you see you nearest and dearest's dreams come true, more so when it's against all odds. by some fluke, 5 weeks ago Lisa was over a friends house when she asked if she'd seen the job at the local Comprehensive.

She hadn't seen the job, which was for the position of Hairdressing Tutor. We had a look at the job spec together and it was almost unbelievable how perfect the job was for her. You know that feeling you get when you see something and you just know that's the right thing for you? We both had it. The problem was, it was during the summer holidays and the deadline was 3 days away.

I emailed the school contact immediately requesting he email me an application form, but unfortunately all we got back was an out of office. That's when it clicked that everyone was on holiday! I managed to get hold of the headmaster the next day who said to just drop a letter of application in to the school, which we did on the closing day.

Two weeks ago, Lisa phoned ,e in work crying. She'd had the offer of an interview, but when going through the requirements, she was missing one of the assessment qualifications, the A1. The job spec had stated D32 / A1. She had the D32, and had even done most of the A1 before a job change forced her to abandon it half way through. It was a really cruel twist of fate, and somehow ironic. A quick google revealed that there were fast-track options available to gain A1 qualification quickly, and told her to phone the school back and ask if she can come on the proviso she gets the A1 prior to the interview. Lisa said she was going to ring back anyway to try and get and have her interview for the experience.

Thankfully the school agreed to give her an interview last Friday. After some frantic searching, it became apparent that we wouldn't be able to fast track the A1. Lisa had also been told that she was the weakest of the applicants, which had us resigned to the fact that she was not getting the job. Despite the grim outlook she was upbeat and excited for the interview. As the interview drew closer I nearly suggested canceling just because of the awkward situation arranging child care for the day, but she went ahead anyway.

I'd had a text from her half way through the day long interview saying that she was having a great time, so I worried less, and at 3:30 I was outside the school waiting for her to finish when I had the, "I'm going to be 10 minutes late" phone call everyone gets when they've been waiting 20 minutes and need the toilet. She told me she was just filling out some papers and she'd be there...

Then she told me she had the job!

I had to ask her three times if she was joking! Amazingly though, she'd beaten two other fully qualified candidates to get the Job. She was on a massive caffeine high when she got to the car, babbled incoherently for 15 minutes, then got a killer headache. I think it was the coffee combined with the adrenaline subsiding that left her exhausted. We're now paying a private company to conduct the A1 qualification, it's not cheap but I'd give up the new house for her to have this job, the pay isn't amazing as it pro-rata, but it's the job she's always dreamed of and she's going to be so good for those kids.

She stars this monday and I can't wait to hear about her first day!