Last Day

I am going to Logan and Lindsey’s end of the year parties today.  They are also doing a walk-through.  All of the graduates walk the halls and say good-bye to everyone.  Some of the kids give their old teachers roses; Logan has made a card for every single teacher that he’s had over the years.  I almost cried when I read them.  Man, that kid can write a sweet letter.  Not only are they sweet, they are funny too.  He said to his science teacher “I used to think that the stomach was just a giant pool of acid, but thanks to you, I now understand how the intestines work.”  He thanked one teacher for not getting irritated when she had to get the ball from over the fence like 20 times a day at recess.  He ended some of his letters “I’ll never forget you, you’ll be in my memories, and you’ll walk through my mind from time to time” and other cute little things like that.  I liked “You’ll walk through my mind from time to time”, clever for a nine-year-old. 

I’m sure that today will bring many tears for the girls.  Logan said that every single year the girls bawl their eyes out.  Not much has changed.  I remember that, don’t you, girls?  I especially had a hard time with the end of the year.  For one thing, I never liked change as a child and had a really hard time letting go of the present.  Also, I always left my friends during the summer because I went to Florida to visit my dad.  I loved going, but I missed everyone and felt left out because they were all still getting together before the next year started back up.  I remember when I graduated from high school—it was so painful that I blew it off so I wouldn’t feel the sadness and I also didn’t want anyone to see how sad I was.  I would have been happier staying in high school because I had a good experience and I had my friends.  I was devastated that my friends all had plans and were leaving me, so I guess I did the dumbest thing that I possibly could have done.  I followed an idiot boyfriend to the beach.  I wish I had explained to someone how I felt at the time, but it felt so ridiculous because what kid wants to stay in high school-the kid who doesn’t like change and the one who has absolutely no idea where she’s headed. One of my main goals for my kids is to help them figure out who they are and where they are going.  On the day that they graduate, they will have a place on the planet to be happy other than high school.  I figured it all out in the end and I wouldn’t change a thing, but I don’t want my kids to feel like everyone is spinning their tires in front of them and they are left behind coughing on their dust—that’s how I felt, but I am the one who couldn’t pay attention in school and talked constantly.  It was my fault.  I was in school to socialize, not study.  Oops.

I went off on a rant that I hadn’t planned!  Have a great day!  Here’s your Word of the Day:

dudgeon \DUH-juhn\, noun:

A state or fit of intense indignation; resentment; ill humor -- often used in the phrase "in high dudgeon."