school days...

Excuse the sentimental lament. But I'm a teacher and I not only relish summer's arrival, I also feel the gentle tug at my heartstrings when I know a child or 16 is about to leave my room and head off into sunburns, mosquito bites and kool-aid moustaches. The end of the year is usually so tumultuous that by day's end on that final day of schoool I am so completely exausted that the reality that these kid's don't "belong" to me anymore has not fully smacked me in the face. My tears are brief--if at all. And only on that long ride home can I fully reflect that I have spent and entire school year getting to know these little humans. From the first two weeks of school, when I question my career choice, to fall's arrival when I am feeling so completely in love with the outside world that it can't help but spill over into the classroom, I have to reflect and feel the utter amazement that I was allowed that much time with such an amazing a group of little personalities. It's April now. Teacher's like to joke and count down the days until summer. I'm not going to tell you that inside it's a different story--inside we're "torn apart." We're not. We love the little guys and we'll miss them. But like the passing of a torch, we know that we're getting a fresh batch in the fall. We'll have few tow-heads, maybe a red-head here or there, and even a future astro-physicist. I will have a few thousand colds, a few parents that need more than their share of reassuring pats on the back, and a couple of hundred cookie cakes.