A Grateful Heart

I had a hard time letting them go Friday...I always do but this time a parent witnessed my stalling. I wonder what she thought as I hemmed and hawed after the announcement for buses and car riders was made. I am ill prepared for holiday breaks because I have a vantage most parents are not lucky enough to have but most teachers know well. A view of childhood innocence that plays peekaboo with you and whispers about the passage of time. A week in second grade is like holding glitter in your hands. A child's innocence sparkles and flows in beautiful ribbons through the days but it is hard to hold. Any word exhaled or event experienced sends it on a journey, scattering the magic of childhood so that no matter how hard you try to gather it all up again, you can never get it all back. I watched them go on Friday knowing they carried that sparkle away with them as they must but it causes my breath to catch because I have become accustomed to the way they shine. I love the many different hues of it. I am always thankful for many things on Thanksgiving but I have the most grateful heart when they come back to me whole and still glimmering with the joy and hope that contains all the magic in their world. Happy Thanksgiving, Mrs. H