Whoooo-Hooooo!

We all survived the last half day of school.

And truth be told, it was kind of fun. Then again, my homeroom this year has been the best group of kids I've had and I enjoy them. Which makes it a lot easier. A whole lot easier. If you can't stand your homeroom being trapped with them for a half day can be pure torture.

By 7:30 they'd raided my game closet and had games of Risk, Monopoly, Stratego and Life going. By 8:15 we had the team head outside to play a mini kickball tournament and returned to the rooms by 10:00 so we could eat junk food, sign yearbooks, and hand out report cards.

I was surprised, to be honest, at all the 8th graders that came by for hugs and signatures in their yearbooks. They are making a big step into high school and it's downright scary for some of them to leave the safety of middle school. They're good kids for the most part so they'll be fine.

By 10:45 the kids had their report cards, had cleaned the room, put up the chairs and were ready for The Principal to release them to their buses. With a cheer they just went pouring into the halls, screaming, yelling, hugging and dashing off to the buses.

And then my favorite part of the last day of school where all the employees and the students who walk home, go outside and wave and yell the buses off as they drive off and their final trek of the year. The buses honk their horns, the kids scream and wave back and it's just something you have to be there to really understand. It's fun. It's really fun when a special kid catches your eye as the bus drives by and waves and smiles at you.

And you know you made a difference.

And that, my friends is why I do this.