Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school. I haven't been in the classroom since February 7, but I went up today to tie up some loose ends and to tell my students goodbye.

The whole time I have been a teacher, I have looked forward to the day when I could be a stay-at-home mom. There were mornings that I would dread going to school. In fact, for a while I thought that the reason I became a teacher was because I wanted a job that I could leave easily when I had kids. But as it turns out, leaving is a little harder than I thought it would be. It seems like when something draws to a close, it's much easier to remember all of the good things.

Most of teaching, I will not miss. The pushy parents (some, not all,) the paperwork that has nothing to do with teaching a child, the kids who never listen or never turn in work. But I will miss seeing the look on a child's face when he finally "gets" how to add double-digit numbers. I will miss watching a kid sound out a really big word and then look up at me to make sure I am impressed. I will miss 25 minute lunch periods and that puppy dog smell that second graders have after recess and PE...wait a minute! Seriously though--being a teacher is hard and often frustrating, but I have had a great 3 years, and I am grateful for them.

And it's not like I'm not a teacher any more. I have the amazing oppourtunity to teach every day. Even now, when Asher lies down and when he rises up and as we walk along the way, I am charged with teaching him who God is and what He requires.

Double-digit addition was nothing!