bye fourth grade, bye first grade

today is my girls' last day of school. actually the last day of school was about two weeks ago, but they have continued to visit the building daily to watch movies, get awards, and eat brownies while playing word bingo...but i digress. but today they go for a half a day and then summer break officially begins. i'm such a sentimental sucker especially when it comes to my kids. and so when my oldest (a rising 5th grader) told me that today as the children leave on the school bus, all the teachers will gather on the lawn and wave them goodbye, it tugged at my heart a little bit. good-byes, even when they are the mark of summer break are to me, bitter sweet.

i love the beginning of summer, but it also reminds me more than anyother time, of the passing of time. and how fast my kids are growing, and how much of a gift time with them is. so in some ways i see myself on that lawn, with the teachers, because I too am waving good-bye to a fourth grader and a first grader.

today i read that ruth graham (billy graham's) wife is in a coma and near death. I heard her say one time that she hated good-byes too. she will be soon taking the utlimate break, or sabbath, the sabbath rest that is prepared for all the saints. and those that stand on the lawn to wave good-bye...well they will still have tears...

...okay, enough of that, now can we go to the beach!

that strange out-of-school feeling

do you remember that feeling you use to get when you were not in school and everyone else was. Not the "yeepee" -this-is-awseome feeling. no the other feeling. Be honest. Do you remember how when you were not in school and everyone else was...how it felt like you were in a foreign world...a place were not suppose to be...a strange world. Because the world you knew, and the people you hung with were all somewhere else. The streets seemed quiet and abandoned almost. And although it was nice NOT be in school it was also a strange, sort of disorienting experience. Everything seemed different, because you really had no idea what the grown ups did all day. And from what you could observe it all looked pretty boring.
I got the feeling today. I guess because I was thinking about he kids getting out for summer break soon. And I thought about how as we progress through life we are all slowly being released into the wild. For the first 18 years of your life, school is the place we spend most of our lives. INside the walls. Then some of us go to college, and it's sort of equal time in and outside the walls. And then one day freedom... Today I reminisced about how cool it was to once be locked up with all of my friends.
You know what, I still don't know what all (of us) the grown ups do all day...