Simply put, saying goodbye sucks.
I’ve never been good at saying goodbye. In fact, I’d often rather just skip the goodbye completely - the awkwardness, the emotion, the tears. It did not occur to me when I decided to become a teacher that this is what you do every year; you spend months and months getting to know every inch of your children, and then that’s it. You hope you did a good job, and you say goodbye.
Today is the last day of my first student teaching placement. This afternoon, I’ll say goodbye to 16 children that I have spent the last several weeks observing, teaching, getting to know inside and out, and really connecting with. It’s like breaking up with 16 people all at once.
I laid in bed this morning and thought about my favorites (yes, teachers do have favorites) in the class. I’m going to miss Ernestine teaching me about braille or poetry or filling me in on the weather report. I’m going to miss Nykia’s hugs and Patience’s smile. I’m going to miss watching Luke draw and Alex’s adorable voice and sweet, kind heart. And even those kids that annoy me and challenge me daily? I realized I actually really care about them too.
But I guess it’s all part of the gig. You take the experience for what it was, the good and the bad, you pack up the memories, and you say good bye. Even though it sucks.
