~as we near the end~

     A beautiful Tuesday "good morning" to you all, our dear friends and family out there.  It's the early morning hours here along the Western Slopes and I just gave Sally the dog her complimentary first biscuit treat of the day.  We share the same "bathroom" schedule, that crazy dog and I.  She waits under our bed for my alarm to go off at 4 a.m. and just as soon as my feet hit the floor, she is right underneath them.  Kind of a habit we have gotten into together in the past few months.  As the weather warms up even more outside, I always hope we don't run into an unwanted visitor out there in the early morning darkness.  Black cats are "ok" to meet, but the ones with a broad white stripe down their back and tail would be rather uncomfortable to encounter.  Sally and Mike had that experience last year on an early morning walk and thankfully we had two cans of tomato juice on hand to bathe her in, removing enough of the "eau de skunk" to make things tolerable. 

     And thus, this day begins.

     We are on the downhill slide at school, looking at only a matter of days ahead of us before the last school bell will ring for the 2013-14 school year.  Each day that I find myself amongst the "18" I realize that it is one day less that we will have the chance to be together.  They have begun to sense it as well.  Even though the time left is quite short, there are a thousand things left yet for us to do.  The days fly fast now, even the kids agree.  Yesterday before we knew it, the time had come for lunch and someone looked at the clock and remarked, "What?  Lunch?  I thought it was time for our drink and restroom break!"  Funny thing was, I thought so too.  "Busy"  is good, engaging, and productive in the last weeks of school.

     The end of school has always been memorable  for me, even as a young kid.  Perhaps my most remembered last day of school as a child came as my third grade year came to a close back at Haven Grade School in my hometown of Haven, Kansas.  It was the last hour of school on a warm and sunny day in south central Kansas.  Our teacher, Mrs. Davis, had sent us all outside to play and have some last minute fun with our friends before we said good-bye until September.  I ran to the area of the playground that we all called "the shack" and was jumping rope with several of my good friends.  Ten minutes into recess, my good friend Ruth stopped twirling her rope and looked quizzically at my face.

"Peggy, why are there little red dots all over your face?", she said.

     I stopped jumping rope and asked her to repeat what she had just told me.  After she told me again that my face was now covered with little red dots, I looked at my arms and legs to find that they were covered as well.  What the heck was happening to me?  We ran over to our teacher who immediately sent me to the office of our school secretary/nurse/anything else she needed to be, Alice Oehlert, who called my parents immediately.  When I heard her say to my mom that I had the measles and needed to go home right away, I cringed.  Dang it!  The measles!  Well, THERE went my summer vacation and rather quickly.  My next 3 weeks were to be spent in the darkened bedroom that I shared with my little sister, the one who promptly took her turn at the measles just as soon as I finished my unwelcome summertime stint with them.  We lived, although I don't know how :)  I never worried about dying from having the measles because the 8-year old that I used to be was just about positive that I would succumb to the sheer boredom of having to remain inside for the very best part of the summer, long before that dreaded disease of childhood could ever take me. 

     I've had a lot of "end of school year" times since then and each of them, regardless of whether I was a student or a teacher, have given cause to tuck precious memories deep into my heart.  As a teacher, the last day is a "bittersweet" one more often than not and when I send the "18" home come this May 21st, it won't be easy.  I half-jokingly, half-seriously have told the kids we will need a lot of kleenix on hand as I stand there before them to say "good-bye" and to thank them for allowing me to be their teacher.  They can repeat, word for word, the things that I have said to them during the course of the school year, things that speak of the "human" side of us all.  I know that they have heard me.  I know that they understood.

"If you ever have a teacher who says that they never make a mistake, then it's time to find a new teacher.  If you ever have a teacher who says that they do not love you, then it's time to find a new teacher."  (the "word" according to Mrs. Renfro)

     We've grown and changed together, both students and teacher, this year.  Mistakes were made aplenty, at times feelings got ruffled a bit, and some days have been tougher than others.  That is life.   99.999 percent of the time, we gave it our best~all of us.  We might not have been able to get through everything that was set before us but we got through all that we could.  I hope that they have learned what is needed to be successful as fifth graders next year.  On the last day of their fourth grade year, I will send them out the door with a hug and an "I love you."  It won't be easy but it will be "ok".  They blessed me and never will I forget that. 

     Have a great day out there everyone.  It's the 15th day of April in 2014 and I'm going to call it a great day to be alive in, "tax day" or not :)

                  She did NOT like having the measles, not even one little bit! 
    

     Dear friends from the class of 1973.  My friend Ruth who discovered that I had come down with the measles is on the front row, fourth from the left.  What a great group of people who were the friends of my youth in the "land of long ago and far, far away."

Perhaps one of my most loved photos of students throughout the years.  This was taken on my last day at Avenue A Elementary back in Hutchinson on the day I officially "retired" for the first time.  Geesch, I still laugh when I think about that.  They were my ESL students for the school year 2009-10.  Little did I realize that 4 years later, I would still be a teacher.