Saying goodbye

I had to say goodbye to my class today, and i think it's one of the hardest things i've ever done. I guess part of me expected it to be easy - it was a difficult term and I thought I would be relieved to finish up there. However, my emotions caught me entirely by surprise.

I was struggling to hold back the tears all morning when they started arriving, and I realised that this really was the end. I probably wont' see any of them again. I thought about all the things that had happened over the last time - all the happy times, all the times where I had been pushed to the limit and just wanted to scream(!) all the times where I would have happily traded my job for anything - as long as it didn't require teaching those kids. But when I saw them this morning all I could think of was how much I am going to miss them. I couldn't help but shed a few tears when Damien asked me to guess what he had in his backpack, and then took out a gift bag for me, in which I found a box of chocolates. He had saved up money fromhis paper round to buy them for me. I was so touched I just burst into tears. Then at morning tea time the kids brought out this card they had made for me which they had all signed, saying how much they were going to miss me. It almost became too much. It was hard saying goodbye to my teacher aides, too. I have been blessed with an amazing team and had the pleasure of working with some of the most loyal people imaginable. Needless to say, I cried all the way home and even now still feel like a complete trainwreck. Goodbye Kieran, Ben, Damien, Jonathan, Erin, Stephanie - and my lovely teacher aides Helen and Jenny. I will miss all of you so much.