Last Monday

What a difference a year makes. A year ago, this picture was taken on the last Monday of the 2018-2019 school year...



My team and I were all together, and we were able to celebrate the last day of the school year with our students.

This year there was no "last Monday" or even a last day of school as we know it. Things are starkly different. What's worse is all of us (pictured above) are moving to new schools next year. This means we won't be around to see our students next school year. Talk about a big change. I've always been able to check on my former students and see them in the hallway, or they've always been able to come and visit me.                                     

After 12 years, I'm saying goodbye to Summerour. It's the only school I've ever worked at, and it's where I've learned all I know about teaching. This farewell is bitter sweet.  Because of COVID-19 and how the school year ended, there doesn't seem to be closure. Even though the last 12 years and my classroom have been packed up into several boxes and crates, somehow it doesn't seem final.

Perhaps a lot of people are feeling this way. High school and college graduates. Newly-weds. New moms. Anyone going through a life changing event, a milestone...or even a tragedy. Not being able to properly recognize something... whether it's to celebrate or mourn with others...seems unfair. I feel kinda cheated in a way. Does that even make sense?

I know this season of life will be remembered for decades to come. We'll all look back at this period of time, and we'll all have many stories to tell.  Remember that time when we were quarantined, and we all had to wear masks, and there was no toilet paper anywhere. Schools were closed, and mom and dad couldn't go to work.  And so many people died...

And then when I think of all the lives lost (102,000 and counting!) and all that people are going through...and that truth settles in...my woes don't seem that important anymore.