Last Day of School

Today is the last day of school at my work. I'm saying goodbye to 18 third graders. It's a trip to think that I've been in these kids lives Monday through Friday for 180 days, six hours every day. I consider it an honor to be an influence like that. I honestly think teaching is the best job on the planet (well, maybe it's just short of a well-paid movie critic). Take today for example, we had our annual teachers vs. fifth graders soccer game and I got paid for that. A couple weeks ago we had our end of the year music assembly and I sat there listening to a culmination performance by the choir. Tough job. The choir did so well. It was truly inspiring. When they were beautifully singing "Hello Goodbye" by The Beatles it was one of these moments of clarity in life when I realized I was basking in God's good grace. One of the weirdest aspects of this job for me is this annual sense of finality. Before this career, I worked 12 years in a law office and there was always a "tomorrow" when I could get to something. Even if it was a holiday or a Friday or something I could always say, "I'll draft that letter on Monday" or "I'll respond to that call on January 3rd" or whatever. With this job, come June 15th, there is no "tomorrow" when I can get to someone's grade or turn in some document. Even though this is my sixth year of teaching, come next week I'll be having a dream that my principal is calling my house saying, "Where are you? Why aren't you at work?" Yet, the reality is it's all over today and I have no idea what next year's class will be like, but come August 31st I'll have a new batch of children and we'll start all over again! I love this job.