Last Day = Sad Day

The last day of school is the happiest and saddest day of the year. It gets worse every year. I don’t know what it is. I get attached to these kids, being together for two years straight, and all of a sudden I realize that I won’t see them daily again. We’ve been through so many battles together that will never be forgotten. They become part of my life. I used to see them first thing every morning, eat lunch together, have them during class and in some cases multiple classes, I would see them after school, and with athletes it’s a special bond, it’s extracurricular during practice and games, sometimes these countless hours that we share include weekends. Often I’m the first person every morning to acknowledge them, of course they’re going to admire that, everyone does, they have done the same for me during their two year term in junior high. We share our dreams, fears, and stories. I become their hero, and they become mine. And just like that they are out of your life :’( I hate goodbyes, but I’ll see them again though, I always do. This day has become very difficult for me. I guess this pain is the prize that I have to pay for a wonderful and restful summer, that potentially always leads to cherished memories. I don’t like letting go, but these kids need to be set free to explore and experience other great things. The world is theirs! My way of coping is sitting right here in my classroom alone, without doing anything. All of my work has been done for the school year, but I don’t want to leave my second home just yet. Once I leave from here, it’s not going to be the same as it begins to prepare for a new set of students, new goals, new obstacles, and new battles against evil. I don’t want to let go, but I must, and before I do I’m sitting here looking at this empty room as it is one last time, and when everybody leaves besides the janitors I think I might take a walk down the hallways of what once belonged to them. If they can read this right now, I want to tell them that I wish them the best, and that they will forever be in my heart and in my prayers. Thank y’all for EVERYTHING!!!!! Thank you for being just the way you are.

"To be yourself in a world that’s trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." -Ralph Waldo Emerson