Vacay!

We're actually doing this! Two of my friends and I finally came to an agreement on a date and location and today we booked our vacation! We are headed to the Bahamas, via a cruise ship, in early August. I am so excited! I haven't been on a summer vacation in 2 years. For quite awhile, I have been begging my friends to let me head up the planning on a vacation for the summer. These friends aren't teachers like me, so it's harder for them to schedule their time off, especially in the summer when everyone wants time off. So this is the summer that it all came together. We made the final decision last night...two of us were in for sure, and our other friend needed a push. We were delighted when she gave in! Then we all stood there and put vacation conditions on each other. Yes, conditions. I mean we are 3 independent women in our 30s. We are pretty set in our ways and we know each other all too well. So, S needs to work on her attentiveness and time management before the cruise. "Lisa" needs to work on her rigidity (is that a word?), and according to the other two I need to work on my moodiness. Hmph! What moodiness? I think I need to work on my tan! So the countdown begins, and I couldn't be happier!

Last Day

Anyone who knows me, knows that I say the same thing at the end of every school year: I love this class, and I am going to miss them the most. This statement has never been more true than it is this year. I mean, look at them (nevermind the fact that it's probably all kinds of illegal to have their pictures up here without permission). They are probably my favorite class in all the ten years that I have been teaching. I've been tearing up all week. And the other day I warned them that I would cry on the last day of school. I told them if they didn't cry on the last day of school then I'd be mad (hee hee). I told them to go home and practice. They asked all week what we were going to do on the last day of school. I told them we would go to an assembly from 9:00 to 10:30, have recess, get ready for lunch, go to lunch and finally, cry our eyes out after lunch until the bell rang to go home. So you'll appreciate that one of my students asked early this morning, "Miss Martin, are we crying after first recess, or after lunch recess...I can't remember." So sometime after lunch I sat down to say my goodbyes and I lost it. And by "lost it" I mean sobbing so hard that I had to put my face in my hands to control myself. They couldn't make out a word that I was saying. Finally, I raised my head up I saw the looks on their faces. A few of them were crying as hard as I was. I told them I loved them, that I would miss them terribly and that I was afraid that the second the bell rang they were going to walk out the door and forget all about me. Twenty-five little voices, in protest, said, "We could never forget you!" Ten years later, I KNOW that I am in the right profession. Nothing else, no presents, no treats, no nothing makes this job more worth it than to hear kids say they love you and that they will always remember you. Here's to Miss Martin's class of 2007-2008! May we always remember each other!