Fleeting Phases

As my school year ended today, the word, fleeting, came to mind. Every year things end and they change. Kids advance to the next grade, colleagues move, principals come and go, and it becomes apparent how fading a year can truly be. There are people that you spend everyday with, eat lunch with, laugh with, and share your life with and then bam, it’s over. Sure, some people will be there next year and you’ll see some of your old students in August, but it’s not the same. You can never get that feeling back again.

I know it sounds strange, and maybe it’s a unique feeling to teachers, but it happens every year. You can’t recreate the rapport you had that year again. It’s impermanent and passing and short-lived and vanishing. Maybe that is why it’s such a sweet thing.

Every year of teaching, I have worked with wonderful students and teachers. And I have felt that small drop in my stomach each year, around the beginning of May, when I realize it’s all going to end soon.

I was sure lucky this year to have worked with some beautiful students and teachers. I am so thankful for that family, even though it can’t last forever.