becoming a softy

today is the last full day of my first year of teaching. mostly, i can't believe it. the year has gone by so quickly...and yet so slowly at the same time. i can't even explain it. it's weird that tomorrow will be the last time these 28 students will sit in my classroom looking at me for answers. it'll be the last time these guys laugh at my terrible jokes. it'll be the last time they give me "five" before they walk into my classroom.

thinking back, so much has changed this year. my kids have grown up. i have grown up. i traded my jeans and t-shirts in for polos and khakis and shoes that hurt my feet. and i think that's okay. i used to be mad that i had changed or that i could see myself changing. now i realize that it wasn't so much that i was doing it to fit in...i was doing it because that's just what happens when a person grows. you change. you have to. if you don't, then you get left behind. and i'm glad i've changed. it was time. i'm glad my kids have changed because now they will be better equipped to take on all the stress that is 4th grade.

i was watching a movie the other day where this girl would stop in certain moments and take air pictures...to savor the moment...to lock it in her mind. i've taken a few air pictures in my life. at graduation, when i moved out of my house, on the first day of school, when i've watched friends drive away to bigger and better things, on random winding roads in the middle of nowhere. today i think i'll take an air picture and lock this one in my heart because as much as i complain about my kids and what they do and how they act, i really do care about them. *sigh* being a teacher really has turned me into a softy.