Well, this is it. The end of the year at an international school. We say our goodbyes. We flutter into our summer lives which may be across the globe or across the street. Most of us go back to our "home," the land where we grew up, and see family that has been missing us for months and in some cases years.
The end of the school year is the quintessence of bittersweet for me.
It's YES to summer and free days and family, and ice cream and biking and barbecues and potting flowers (did I just say that? I rarely pot flowers). Yes, to the place where I grew up, where "everyone knows my name."
But, as a teacher, this is also the end of a certain close-knit family that is created as you interact with students over a year. They probably have no idea just how attached I become and how much I will miss them.
It's hard for me to say those things at the end because I get choked up, and it feels "showy" somehow, even though saying warm sincere words shouldn't be held back.
But I'll miss them. I'll miss the know it alls, the smile a lots, the do gooders, the goof offers, the purely lovable ones, the naughty ones, and all the in-between ones. I will miss every last one of them.
The good news? Maybe I'll get them next year!
Happy Summer to all of you.
