Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Another School Year Gone By

As I mentioned in my post about my mother's passing, the last day of school came at a very tough time for me and my family. It was very very hard to put my feelings and stress about mom on hold for a few days to be present for my kids and just leave my mom and her care in the hands of my dad and siblings. I was quite nervous that mom's passing would happen quickly and she would be gone during these few days of graduations and Emma's birthday too, the day after school got out. Little did I know just how long her passing would take.

Here are the girls on the 2nd to last day of school, Romney all gussied up for graduation:




I was grateful that I was able to leave my mom-emotions to the side for a while. The last couple of days of the year really were fun and exciting with some big events for the kids. The first event on Thursday the 1st of June was Romney's promotion from 6th grade. That was so fun, to see her ready to be done with elementary and to celebrate with a big group of friends. I was especially touched that my niece Kate and her boyfriend Cameron made the effort to come and support Romney. They brought her flowers and everything. They are so great. They show up for everything. After Troy and I attended her graduation ceremony in the morning she and I went out to lunch at Hires with two of her friends and one other mom. Oh Hires. I love your and your Mountain H and fries.











Official last day of school photos:









The next morning Troy and I had just enough time to attend Chase's promotion from 8th grade which was.... kind of long. There were a lot of student speakers but I have to say that for the most part I was pretty impressed with what they had to say. There were treats in the common area after and I tried to snap a few pictures of Chase although he wanted to kill me for doing so. I especially wanted to catch him with one teacher in particular, Stephanie Hunt, who made just a huge impact on my son. She teaches Language Arts and History, and Chase loved her and her class. More importantly Chase had been in an orchestra class that year which he absolutely detested. We were able to transfer him out of the class and Mrs. Hunt allowed Chase to become a teacher's aide in her class. What she did was amazing. She had him become a tutor to refugee students and she really encouraged him and praised him for everything he did, until both he and I were convinced that never was there a better helper in the school. I'm sure that wasn't true. The point is that she bolstered his confidence and his connection to other students in a way that made a real difference in his well being. It changed his year and I love her dearly. What an incredible woman.










After that we zipped on over back to the elementary school so we could catch the annual tradition there of a whole-school group sing-along in the auditorium. Each grade level performs a few songs and then they all do the school song and dance together. It sounds cheesy but I love it anyway. The last thing that happens on the last day of school is the ruler tunnel - I've probably mentioned it before. The teachers all line up in two rows with yardsticks and create a tunnel for the graduating 6th graders to run through on their way out the doors. Everyone follows them and we flood outside and hug and cry and say goodbye for the summer. I of course was basically sobbing as many beloved friends and teachers gave extra hugs and support knowing what was going on at home for me. I was a mess. A mostly happy mess. And so was Emma. That cute girl just cried and laughed with sadness and excitement all at the same time.













No comments: