At the end of every year, my emotions go for a ride. As like our kids, I get anxious for summer break. Summer break means a break from early rising, a break from packing lunches, a break from waiting for buses and school drop offs. Yet, summer break also means 4 kids at home everyday, 4 kids trashing our house, 4 kids to make lunch for all at once, and 4 kids constantly requesting one thing after another all day long. Summer break is one giant roller coaster with its ups and its downs.
I think the lowest point for me of summer break is the end of school. With our oldest having Down Syndrome, he is often put into a class with the same teacher for a couple of years. Therefore, twice as long for us to grow an attachment to that teacher. Last year was particularly hard for me. Last year our son left the teacher he had for both 3rd and 4th grade. She was absolutely amazing and I didn't want to let go. Our son on the other hand was just excited to be done with school. We've had other teachers though that have stuck with us for awhile. For instance, our oldest three children have all attended the same preschool program. Therefore, they received those teachers for multiple years. Our 5 year old is leaving preschool this year. This is the first downhill of my emotional roller coaster. The teacher and the aide have really taken to our son as he has them. When this happens, I have a harder time letting go. I wonder sometimes how teachers do it. I don't think I could ever spend 9 months with a group of kids and then say goodbye to them. I have to continuously remind myself that our kids will be attending the same school next year, so we will still see those teachers in passing. It's funny I suppose that I hardly know these women, yet I have an attachment to them that is hard for me to break. For me, the end of the school year is a sign of how quickly time passes and how quickly our children really do grow up. However, I believe that as hard as it may be to let go of good people and watch our kids grow up, I also love watching them grow and watching them embark on new stages in their lives.
