SUMMER!!!

I can't believe it's already here, but it's time for summer! The kids left at 12 and now I'm just killing time until I'm officially free. In fact, I'm not even supposed to have access to my blog from school, but I guess the firewall isn't working properly! :)

This has truly been an amazing year. I can't believe how lucky I got with my class. Each and everyone of my kids made me laugh on a daily basis and they really all tried to do the right thing 99.9% of the time. Each school year is so different from the previous ones and I've had different feelings about the ending of each. My first year I was just absolutely relieved to have survived and still have a job! My second year was amazing and I never considered how much I would miss those kids. The third year was great too, but I was very ready for summer.

And this year brings a whole new set of emotions. I've experienced things through my kids that I had absolutely no idea how to handle; the terminally ill Mom whose spent the last several weeks on hospice, the unexpected death of a Dad, the fear of not knowing who would be at home when you got there, and on and on and on. It has been amazing to watch them deal with life's most difficult situations. I'm completely convinced that this group of kids will grow up and do something that will change our world. They are beyond smart, they are kind, they are caring, they are funny, they are resilient, they are go-getters. And what are the chances that I'd get 22 kids who see the glass as half-full, who take on every obstacle with a smile, who value intrinsic rewards more than extrinsic ones. I know that this class taught me way more than I could have ever taught them.

While I'm excited to have a little time off, today is certainly bittersweet. I can't imagine that there will ever be a group as special as this one.