The Last Day

Today was a good day. It started in the wee hours as I finished up my grading and searched through numerous concordances to find the perfect Bible verses to go on the certificates for my students.
I did sleep...briefly. I got up and finished wrapping the teacher gifts and took a few photos of the kids before heading to the last assembly of the school. Instead of sitting among the crowds of parents, I sat in the bleachers with my class.
It's a different perspective in those bleachers and that's where it all hit. I looked over at Mackenzie sitting with the elementary students for the last time. I saw Aiden, halfway through his elementary career. And down below was Dawson, finishing up the last of his half days. In the crowd I spotted Maximilian, a mere two years away from joining them. Suddenly I was not only wiping off the sweat (our school is not air-conditioned), but wiping back the tears.
I managed to make it through all of my kids’ honors awards as well as the honoring of my fourth-graders without any total melt-downs. Even though I don't teach in the mornings, Max and I hung out with the fourth-graders to help pack up the classroom. It was totally cute the way they included him in the work and the fun. He thought he was a regular big kid.
When the bell rang we all screamed with joy together and I was ever so grateful to be there right at that moment. My mom, as is her way, slipped me some money to take the kids to lunch to celebrate their achievements. It was pouring down rain so we drove all the way across town to hit a McDonalds with an indoor playground.

We ate our food slowly as we talked about their year and I reminded them how blessed they are to go to a school where their teachers honor them individually for a virtue they see in them. We took our time. They made friends on the playground and I told them to play as long as they wanted.

When we got back home, the boys asked if they could play Wii and if I would play with them. Certificates were strewn across the counters, book bags were scattered on the floor, and shoes were dropped in a trail to the TV. For once I let it all go. I sat with the kids and lost every single race of Mario Kart. We had so much fun.

When Nelson got home it was time for the big event - ear piercing. When Mackenzie asked us about getting this done several years ago, Nelson and I decided it would be a nice rite of passage into middle school. She's asked many times since then...every time someone else in her class got them done. Turns out she was the only one left and we were just fine with that.

With all that waiting there was no way we were getting away with doing it any day other than today. The boys were mesmerized by the whole process and wondered how we would celebrate their passage into middle school. "It will NOT be with piercing of any kind," Nelson quickly inserted.
Mackenzie did great and claimed no pain at all. By using some coupons we fed the family for a mere $7.63 at Chick-Fil-A. When we walked past the Cookie Company, we found a former sitter working and she handed the kids free cookies. Does it get any better?

We finished the day by snuggling together to watch the finale of American Idol (I told you we were behind). And me, well, I went to bed with the mess right where it was. It was a totally indulgent day after a really hard year. And I'm hoping, there will be a lot more of these days to follow.