Coming to an End

Today was my last full day of teaching. I have loved it while it lasted, but other than feeling the sadness of leaving a staff full of wonderful people, I'm feeling very excited. I'm not sure if my brain could grade another set of 170 essays.

Today was a bit hard. The teacher who will be taking over my classes started her contract today. This meant she was in my room all day with me and the students. She seems really nice and great, but it was still a bit awkward knowing that these were some of the last few moments I had with my students, and she was there. Thankfully I found out yesterday that she was coming, so Aaron and I hurried and cleaned out my classroom last night. This was nice so I didn't have to try to do that while she was there. It is a good thing I did. Any spare moment was spent showing her the textbooks, the novels, the teacher guides, the copy room, the bathroom, the counseling office, the spirit store, the printer, the faculty handbook, the attendance program on the computer... I could go on and on. Hopefully this will make the transition with the students better, though.

Tomorrow is my last official day. It is a half day with the students, then my super nice school friends are giving me a going-away baby shower in the afternoon. All week long, former students have been showing up to say goodbye. This causes lots of emotion...knowing they still care about me. I heard through the grapevine that a "whole slew of 'em are coming tomorrow"! I'm excited, but I'm bracing myself. There are a few that I hope against hope will show up. I know it is supposedly the teacher's job to influence the students, but there have been a few students that have made quite an impact on me. We'll see if I can possibly make it through the day without crying a bucket full of tears.

Today was also the day I said so long to Chris, my workout buddy. Not only do I hate telling her goodbye, but I just found out she tore her achilles tendon. OUCH! It will take many months for that to heal...Best wishes, Chris.