Last Days of School

So, I have a lot to update you all on.I'm going to break this into bite size chunks so that it is easier to digest.

Thursday I woke up for my last day of "I'm a teacher" mode. I went to the Y at my normal hour and started my day like every other Thursday. But, this day was different. It was my last day at Rainier View and my last day with these children that I had been building community with. Laura the sub that was taking over my position came that morning and spent the day in our class observing our routines. The bell had rung, homework was turned in and children were quietly finishing their Thursday morning work of D.O.L. Then bursting through the door was my lovely housemate Tray, toting in her hands two plastic boxes filled with teeny carrot cake muffins which where mostly frosting and delicious. She had come to surprise me on my last day of teaching. Then one minute later just as I was adjusting from that heart attack in walked Jamie asking "Does anyone know where Ms. Diamonds class is?" and in his arms were brilliant orange tiger lilies beautifully complemented by neon green tissue paper and a hand written note from Tray. They stayed for about 20 minutes. Before the announcements came on James and Tray had all 20 kids minus the slow pokey ones that always need more thinking time, on the couches mezmorized as James read from Aladdin. This happened to be a perfect choice since Aladdin was one of our new vocabulary words that we found during our read aloud two days ago.

This whole last day was filled with joy but at the end of it I was ready to head off into new adventures and am excited to see how my teaching hat will look in Eastern Africa, but I was also really glad that I got to meet some really kind and caring friends at Rainier View. Specifically my friend Dotty who teaches fifth grade and was so nice to approach me on our first inservice and introduce herself. We knew right from that time that this was a friendship that only God could have ordained.

When 4:00 came I wasn't in the least sentimental about handing the classroom keys back to the chatty office manager Kay and head home for the last time past Wild Waves and Native American smoke shops.