goodbye^24

Friday was my last day at work and it was very emotional. I'm not sure at exactly what point in life I became one of those women who cry uncontrollably when they're very sad or angry (I think circa 2003) but it is extremely annoying.

I stayed busy late into the night Thursday with preparations for the last day of class, and I was doing very well. But I wanted one of my last day activities to be an art table where my students could make cards for their homeroom teachers, so I started searching for poems about teachers that I could have ready for their use.

I found this:

You're a very special person.
and you should know
How I loved to be your teacher,
how fast the time did go.

We did a lot of special things-
We learned, we laughed, we cared
I always will remember you
And all these times we shared.

I wish that you could visit me,
as through the grades you go.
Try hard to learn all you can,
there's just so much to know.

The one thing I hope you remember
to last your whole life through,
Is that you are special and you are cared for
Each and every one of you!

Sappy Poem + Me = Weepy Tearful Mess

So I cried most the rest of the night. I got up early and ran around, dropped Little Guy off at Grandma's and as soon as I walked into the teacher's lounge I started crying again. I got to my classroom and as I set it up for the last day -- more crying. The first students started trickling in and I finally calmed down, pulled it together and settled into business. Then at the end of class out came the evil crying poem...needless to say there was crying.

I never in a million years would have thought it would be this difficult to say goodbye to my students. But it is. I don't think I ever fathomed when I was in school just how much the teachers cared. How teachers come to think of students as *their* kids.

So tearful goodbyes...class is dismissed. Then I spent the next 4 hours putting my classroom away for the summer and filling out intervention reports. By then I was dusty and dirty and glad to say goodbye to the school, if not the students.

I hope my 24 kids have bright futures.
I hope they rise above their circumstances.
I hope they learn that it is not their fault when bad things happen to them.
I hope they make good choices.
I hope they have a great teacher next year, who cares about them even half as much as I do.