The Last Day of School

Nearly 8 months ago I wrote these words and I can still feel the emotions that accompanied them. 

"I laid in the dark, early morning hours this morning knowing that in a few hours my kiddos would walk into school.  Tru, for the first time in six months, Fletcher for the first time.  And there have been so many emotions to fill this day. "

The emotions hit different today.  Joy.  Relief.  Gratitude.  Amazement.  Eight months ago, I thought there was no way we'd make it to this day.  Heck, I wasn't sure we'd make it past the first month. But we did.. and then one turned in to two, fall turned to winter, 100 days passed and now the last day.  So here we are.  The conclusion of another year.  Backpacks came home ,just like they always do, filled with a years worth of  work and learning, snacks that should have been tossed long ago and (a new addition this year) an abandoned mask or two.  But it pretty much looks the same.  And credit to parents and educators alike for making that happen for our kids. Credit to those that didn’t point out what was bad or different, but what good things still persisted .  

A few weeks back I had reached out to a teacher to advise of the excitement Fletcher shared with us after a particularly good day of school.  I apologized for it having taken so long to get to this place in the year and was provided with the perfect response .  "I'm not sorry one bit.  I knew his time would come.  The most beautiful things take time"  I can  hardly read those words without being overcome by their beauty.  As a parent, it was a great reminder that our kids all get there, they just do it their own way and on their own time.  That seemed even more true this year.  

So much of this year has felt like a blur due to being unable to visit the school, completing conferences via zoom and getting snippets of information only from the perspective of our kids.  Yet throughout all that, time marched on. Eight months passed.  And during that time our kids developed, learned, grew, changed, adapted, persevered and succeeded.  Maybe the milestones weren’t as big, maybe they were bigger, maybe they took longer or maybe they weren’t achieved at all.. but everyday they were there putting in the work. Everyday they showed up, tolerated disruptions and changes and kept at it. I can only imagine what they learned this year from their books, and more importantly outside of them. 

Tomorrow they walk out of the school ready for the next year.  And none of this happened on accident.  This year, together even when we were apart, we all rallied for our kids.  So parents, educators, friends and most importantly our kids, thank you. Collectively we did it.  Goodbye 2020/21 school year, you’ve been one for the ages . 

And tonight, when my head hits the pillow, no tears, just a final deep sigh of relief.