It takes quite a lot to make me cry. In fact, I can go for weeks without shedding a tear, but this week has been a doozy.
I cried Friday night after SCREAMING a mad holler when I was one frustration beyond my breaking point. I cried. I felt better after that. Sometimes you just have to let it out.
I cried Sunday morning in church when the holy spirit was moving all about the space that is our church - a New England high school auditorium - during the band's praise and worship time. Oh, how I raised my hands and lifted my out-of-tune voice. Those were happy tears.
I cried that night when I started putting together the DVD of our 2nd grade year together. I selected music I thought would speak to our year, set it to the 400+ photos I had taken, and sat back to watch. I told Curt that I wasn't sure I'd be able to say goodbye to this class. And I cried.
Yesterday, my teacher friend across the hall asked us to pray for her daughter whose baby was due that very day. Her daughter had lost that baby just after Christmas. We all prayed for comfort and peace. Teacher friend came to me after school with glistening eyes; her daughter just learned she was pregnant. I cried.
Today Tiana brought me a Diet Coke and a pack of Twix. I cried. Jessica brought me the sweetest card and a gift. I cried. Miles tried to give me his published book, Jack's Anger. I cried and made a deal with him that if he came to read it to my class next fall, that'd be just perfect. I could not take his book; his mom needed to save that. She'll cry.
A half-week of tears. And tomorrow is the last day of school. I have a feeling that I'm not all cried out yet. Perhaps I should load some Barry Manilow on my iTunes and have myself a good old bawl. Or I could watch my newly burned DVD and weep just the same.
I'm not so sure I know how to say goodbye to this bunch.
You are truly a TEACHER in every sense of the word. I am so very, very proud of you and the way your life is almost entirely given to others, teaching them and learning from them. I am so very, very proud to say you're my daughter. I love you, honey.
ReplyDeleteYou got Twix and didn't share? Ouch.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. This has been a phenomenal year for you. The emotional attachment to each of the school years speaks to the multiple years that your students will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Can one teacher make a difference? Yes! Your effect on a student can be like a stone dropped into a still pond, the ever widening ripples spread just as your students spread the joy and learning they received during your year together. And then they drop their stone in their own still waters and the ripples continue.
You are a gifted teacher and a blessing to those around you. Stay the course!
(and bring home the Twix.......)
:)
Your list is a worthy list for tears. I'd be bawling too but I'm a classic Hallmark commercial crybaby.
ReplyDelete