After 31 years of walking into this almost hundred year-old regal school building greeting all those doing the same, and spending a day discussing excellent texts and fostering student responses I find myself driving away one final time on this hot June day. The waterfall of complicated emotions I’ve felt since I turned in my resignation is Niagara Falls in proportion. Finding myself unable to say a lengthy farewell to students or colleagues, instead overcome by the whole convergence of my living and breathing within this mighty vocation, I slipped away, opting for an Irish goodbye.

I count myself lucky that a very perceptive college professor shepherded me toward high school teaching when I thought middle school best. But he saw me. That is indeed the very power of a teacher, to recognize what a student might not yet realize about themselves, encourage them toward that self, and allow them to gain strength from within. Having been taught both well and poorly myself, I endeavored to lead with kindness and a smile, saying yes more often than I originally thought prudent.

If you haven’t ventured into a school since your own graduation, you probably should, just to appreciate the hustle and bustle of staff, doing all they can to ensure every child gets the best learning environment possible. In a public school this truly does mean every child. I don’t think it possible to convey exactly how hard teachers work. Even those who appear to be breezing through aren’t. And I can assure you that it never gets easier. In the grey world that is the teachers’ world there are hundreds of decisions to make daily, difficult questions to answer, constant redirecting to do, unparalleled excitement to project, a classroom full of students to coax into believing in themselves by reading widely and writing passionately, and colleagues to both steady and encourage without the confines of black and white. A day is long although a year always flies by.

Today I find myself in a bit of disbelief that this day has arrived. The end of a spectacular career for which I am so very glad to have made mine. But as I move into an untitled chapter, I am delighted to pause and watch the new possibilities headed my way stretch in every direction. Oh, do wish me luck! I have not been this untethered for quite a long time.

* Dedicated to all those who still venture head strong into the profession of teaching,

xxoo, with love