Coming to an End

I can barely believe it, but there are only two more weeks of school. 9 more days. I feel like it was just yesterday when I was writing about how nervous I was about starting school and now it's almost over. Crazy.

It's been the most difficult and the most rewarding year of my life. People told me it would be hard, but I just couldn't understand what they meant until I went through it. I felt that same way about getting married. People told me that there would be an adjustment phase and so I was prepared, but it wasn't like how I thought it was going to be. It wasn't that hard, just different than I was expecting. Teaching has been the same way. I never realized how hard it would be to figure out how I wanted to do things and how many times I would need to try something new until I found the one that worked for me. I never realized how hard it would be to deal with students at such different levels (1/3 of my class being in Special Ed). I never realized how exhausted I'd be or how long I would have to stay after school to make sure I was ready for the next day.

But, I also didn't know how happy I'd be. I didn't know how many stories I'd have to take home to Derek about all the funny things my kids said and did. I didn't know how satisfied I'd feel after a student progressed on standardized tests, or after the light bulb went on and they finally understood something that had taken them so long to get. I didn't know how much I'd miss these kids who at one time or another had driven me nuts.

It's been an awesome year. I'm sad to see it end (excited for summer but sad about leaving my kids) but happy for another year to start, and to know where that will be!