Farewell summer, hello school.

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My posts have been less frequent towards the end of this summer, but today is the last official day of my summer so it felt necessary to end it with a blog post. While I was cutting a ton of peaches to freeze this morning, I thought I would include a little haiku I made up- counting syllables and all on my fingers covered in sweet, rich peach juice.

Farewell sweet summer.
I enjoyed playing with you.
See you in a year!

Alas, time has flown by. I had a mini freak out moment when I looked at the calendar and saw August first roll around. Why? Mainly because I realized it was time to go back to school and there are all these things I said I would update, redo, and plan during summer for this coming school year and well, not all of those got done. But, I've learned that I will never get all things done. There is grace for the teacher. 

However, once my mild freak out subside I had multiple days (which are still continuing) in which I thought quite literally- I have the best job in the world. A friend of mine came to help me set up my classroom the other day (side note: it is quite nice to live in a college town and have 5 year olds in 20 year old bodies who want to cut, color, glue, and run though an elementary school with me), and she asked me,"If you could have any job in the world what would it be?" And I smiled when I realized I had to think really hard because I pretty much have it. I mean sure maybe I would like to be a special ed camp director or do ABA Therapy or be a preschool teacher (because you don't have to do all the grades and such!) but..... those are such slight variations of what I am doing that pursing those feels well... unnecessary. 

Now, ask me that in about 3 weeks and I will tell you if I am still thinking that. :) Just kidding. I do love my job. Let me tell you why with a sweet story.

Yesterday I was in my classroom setting things up and one of our custodians came into my classroom quite huridly. I happen to love this custodian, but he doesn't usually come into my classroom. He put one hand on his hip and one on his broom and I wished I could have frozen that picture in time. He asked if the rumor was true that a particular student he loved wouldn't be returning. I sadly admitted it was true, we had decided to place this child in a different classroom at a different school in our district. He said, "That makes me so sad. He was so... so... He brightened my day. Sometimes... when I was feeling kinda off, I'd see him and it would just set me right." I just sat there amazed as tears welled up in my eyes. My children make the people who take out our trash and mop our floors believe there is more to the world.  

My children make you smile, make you laugh, make you cry, make you want to explode with joy in a way that no other children in our school can.

They don't just make you hope for your day to get better. They don't just make you smile once during a tough day. They are the ones that make your day better. They are the ones who keep you smiling. They make you believe there is beauty and good in the things that most deem unworthy or unfit. 

Sure maybe people are scared at first by people with disabilities. But once you spend time with them, that fear is erased and replaced by intense love. I see it most beautifully displayed in the elementary school kids. At first they are unsure how to approach my kids, but come that last day of school, they are saying 'hey,' giving high fives, asking me if my class can come down to visit their class again, and saying things like, "This is the most fun I've had in school," after interacting with my kids. 

So ...

Dear 2013-2014 school year, 
BRING IT ON!
Sincerely excited, Kim

P.S. I will come back to this post I'm sure on those days I ask, "Um... why am I doing this again?" haha.

P.P.S. I do not pretend that my job is in any way glamourous or easy. I do not want to pretend that on a significant amount of days this summer I didn't think "Man, being a stay at home mom sure sounds nice right now." I do not pretend to love doing IEPs or writing progress reports or taking data. I do not pretend to be a great teacher at all. I do not pretend that every day I have these THIS IS WHY I LOVE MY JOB moments. Just to clarify.








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