Sentimental Stuff. Gross.

***Disclaimer*** 

This post does NOT include pictures of the cutest baby in the world, aka Henry Gage Morgan.  Stay tuned for 5 months pictures coming later this week.  

   Friday was our last day of school.  I felt the normal rejoicing that teachers feel during that last week, but this time was bittersweet.  This time when I walked out of my classroom that final day, I was leaving for good and becoming a stay-at-home mom.  

    I was ok until I turned in my keys and badge.  Then it became a reality, "I REALLY can't come back here!  I can't even get in the building!"  When I got in my car, I couldn't even turn around and look at the school because I didn't want to lose it.  I don't handle change well, and I always get sentimental when I leave places and start something new. 

    I  know, I know, most people would leave work the last day doing cartwheels and jumping for joy.  I know how blessed I am to be able to stay home and raise Little Man.  I miss him when I'm at work, and was a mess the first time I had to leave him with the babysitter.   But I love my job.  I love the challenge, I love being busy, I love the kids, and I love the people I work with.  The thought of leaving all of that makes me sad.  

    I was only at my school for 4 years, but it is my second home.  I remember touring the school before it was even finished, picking out my classroom, and wearing a hard hat.  I remember meeting my first group of kindergarten teacher friends, and hoping they would be patient with my lack of experience (and they SO were!)  I remember spending days and days setting up my classroom for the first day of school, and then changing it every day for the first few months because it just wasn't quite right.  I think about all those early mornings and late nights.  I think about falling asleep in the parking lot before school on several occasions, because I was too exhausted to get out of the car. I think about all my sweet babies from the past 4 years, and my first group of kindergarteners that are now fourth graders.  I remember laughing, dancing, singing, getting messy, hugging, and loving the heck outta them.  I think about carving pumpkins, making applesauce, and having Polar Express themed holiday parties.  I remember getting kicked, hit, cussed at, having chairs thrown at me, then crying when that student left because I loved him so much.  I remember interesting conversations with crazy "very involved" parents.  I remember field trips to the zoo, tying countless shoelaces, countless "accidents", and drying countless tears.  I'm going to miss my babies.

    I think about the people I was blessed to work with.  These are now some of my closest friends.  I feel like we have fought a war and been in the trenches together.  I can't begin to count the hours we spent laughing together.  When you teach little ones, you long for any moment of grown-up interaction.  We would sit in the hall for hours after school talking and laughing, then complain because there was never enough time to get it all done :)  We would get annoyed with each other, vent, maybe throw something, then get over it and love each other all over again.  We cried to each other after a hard day, hugged, and prayed when one of us was going through a hard time.  We have attended wedding parties, baby showers, and funerals together.  We gladly picked up the slack when someone had too much to handle.  I remember pushing my friends down the hall in a rolling chair when they were too pregnant to walk, hiding in their room with embarrassment when I walked in on a male substitute using the restroom, and interrupting their lesson to show them that I had ripped yet another pair of pants (4 to be exact, but who's counting?!)  I remember telling them I was pregnant, asking them to cover my class while I was in the restroom with morning sickness, and waddling down the hall when I was 9 months pregnant.  

     Am I happy to be staying at home?  Yes, I never thought I would have the opportunity to stay at home with my little one.  But you better bet I'm going to be at that school to help get classrooms put together and love on my old students.  

And I will bring Sonic drinks.  Lots and lots of Sonic drinks.