Thursday, May 18, 2006

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like... Spring

Apparently all my lilacs needed was a little bit of sun. Which we had all day long today. Forget that it's supposed to rain again tonight, and there is a chance of rain all weekend. Today.. the sun was out. And the world dried up enough that when I got home from school I was able to mow my lawn. I won't tell you how tall the grass out in the backyard by where the dog's run is was. Let's just say that I had to mow over it twice. That's some long grass. We got a lot of rain. So anyhow, when I came around the corner of my hedges to mow near the sidewalk, I discovered that my lilacs over on that side of the house bloomed today. These ones get the most sun. The other ones are near my barn, and have grown up so high that they reach the bottom of the roof. They are mostly in the shade, and not only do they take longer to bloom, they mostly bloom up near the roof and are hard to pick. The bad thing about having lilacs near the sidewalk is, that other people like to pick them. Tomorrow I am hoping to get out there after school and cut some for my kitchen before they are all snatched away.


The smell of lilacs and fresh cut grass, both of which I love, was a bit intoxicating. After a crappy arse day at school, which followed several other crappy days, it was just what my soul was longing for. I had such high hopes for this year. School and otherwise. And I feel like I am being beaten down. And the year (non-school) is only half over. It's difficult to have a bad year in school. It's more difficult to have two in a row. Last year it was student-related. This year it is mostly staff and administration related. That and some crazy arse parents and I'm ready to have myself committed. Fortunately, there are only 23 more days. I am so ready for this year to end.

And yet, part of me is not. Next school year, is the last year Mr. Man will be in elementary school. Next year, Ms. Thang enters the intermediate grades, and leaves her primary years behind. When did my kids get so old? How can this be happening? At this time next year, I will be getting ready to watch 30-some-odd of my favorite kids (well, not all of them) walk across the stage and collect their diploma's. I have watched them grow up since first grade, and I'm proud of the fine young people some of them are becoming. My other favorite group of kids are in my daughters class. Not her grade, her current class. In several weeks they are going to be saying goodbye to the teacher they have had for three years. They love her, as does she them, and while I know they are ready to move on.. my heart breaks for them. The class will be splitting in half (as some of them are in 2nd and some are in 3rd) and going their separate ways. Off to new teachers, and new classmates. Their teacher joked with me that next year, when they come downstairs past her room and head further down to the bathroom, she bets for a while they will forget they are supposed to go back upstairs and find themselves in her room out of habit. I got such a kick out of that, because I know that it's true. They are great kids and they have grown so much this past year. They are blooming into fine young people, much in the same way as my lilacs.

1 comment:

@wesome@bby said...

HOw sad that the class and teacher will be parting ways, but what a GREAT learning experience for your kids.

The lilacs are bee-utiful.