at last

Well, okay.
It’s been a long time since my last ecstatic post about my killer new job. I intended to fill y’all in on the stomach-churning interview with the Big Man, but then… well. I graduated. And my mom came to town for a week. And my internship ended. And I basically had no internet time at all and I am sorry. But boy do I have a wave of relief washing over me right now! I am essentially on vacation until labor day. Whoop whoop!
Leaving my first first grade class was pretty tough. I love those kids so much! I held it together all day yesterday, despite the fact that I had my mom shadowing me all day at school and getting misty-eyed every time someone thanked me or gave me a compliment. I even held it together during the farewell community meeting when all of the faculty who were leaving the school had to sit up on stage for half an hour while sweet, teary children stood up one by one and thanked us for things like, “being the funnest, funniest teacher ever.” The other interns wept, but I stayed pretty cool.
But then, at the end of the day, after we all said our goodbyes and I had hugged each of my students and promised them I’d meet them for ice cream this summer if they wanted to, the mom of my sweetest student came in to collect her son. Her boy, “Sam”, is a super-shy animal lover who has some pretty rough learning problems. He and I made a special connection this year, and I worked with him one-on-one a lot. Despite his shyness, Sam raised his hand in community meeting and thanked me for helping him. It just about broke my heart. Anyway, his mom came in and I told her about it and she just started sobbing and thanked me and told me that Sam had woken up that morning crying and said that he didn’t know why everyone was excited about summer because he didn’t want first grade to end because he didn’t want me to leave. Yeah. I pretty much lost it at that point. That kid has a tough road ahead of him in terms of schooling, and I just hope he can sustain his good attitude. And I hope that his teachers understand and love him. Sniff, sniff.
Tomorrow I will post my long-promised relationship update. But there is a World Cup game showing and anyway I don’t want to lump that fun news into this sappy gush. Goodnight!