I MADE IT!   The bell rang at 3:10 PM and I made it through my 11th year of teaching!   The 8th graders were dismissed at 3 PM so they could say goodbye to friends and teachers.  The girls all cry their eyes out while they walk through the halls one last time as JMS Students.    The teachers offer each other Kleenexes in jest.  (We don’t laugh while the kids are there, but come on, it is quite ironic that these kids can’t “WAIT TO LEAVE THIS  SCHOOL” as they often mutter this under their breath when asked to do work this last month…..and then when the time to leave comes……they bawl like babies.)

It’s our school’s tradition to have all of the teachers walk out the main doors and stand outside along the 40+ buses that load and wave goodbye as each bus pulls away from the school.   There is nothing like that feeling as you wave to that LAST bus as it pulls away…

As soon as the buses left, 12 antique Ford Model T  cars pulled up to the school.  They were there, along with a police escort, to drive the retirees around the town a bit.   It was so cool!  The rest of the staff waved and cheered as each retiree pulled out in “their” car.  It was quite extraordinary watch their faces light up as we cheered and they were driven off in such cool cars!   Their smiles were a million miles wide and oh how their eyes sparkled!  I was so happy for each of them!  (And at the same time…sad for the rest of us….we’re losing amazing people this year!)