The Foorce

Tomorrow is the last day of sixth grade. What the whaaaaaaaat? As I put together teacher gifts (all 15 of them) this evening, I added this photo to some of the bags – it was taken on James’s first day of school. Looking at the photo brought back so many memories from the past year. Sooooooooo many. As you can see from the boxes, we had just moved to our new house in Brooklyn – this was back when we were still excited to be homeowners (472 projects ago). This was pre-Ian, pre-Superstorm Sandy, and before Ian needed emergency surgery. This was pre-roof leaking, pre-appliances breaking, hot water heater malfunctioning, roof #2 leaking, deck collapsing, #$%@ roof leaking. We had not yet experienced the chronic sickness that violently swept through our household all Fall, which was apparently only a precursor to the hurricane of intense allergies, tantrums, and anxiety in the Spring. And let’s not forget the yearlong sh@tstorm. Literally.

But now Summer is here and sixth grade is over. And you know what’s missing from this incredibly eventful year? A good ole fashioned school crisis. Not one. You might be thinking, well, what about that school bus strike? Yeah, that sucked, but became totally doable thanks to the amazing effort and communication skills of school administration. What about all that change in the beginning of the year – new house, new school, new sibling? I think James’s homeroom teacher knew I was in labor before some of my friends did. Thanks to regular phone calls we were all on top of managing James’s adjustment period(s). What about poop accidents, tantrum-y mornings, field trips, June? Look, I’m not pretending that James was a walk in the park all year, but this school rocked it.

This was an especially crazy year, even for our family, full of surprises large and small. And one of the bigger ones was this being the first year EVER that did not involve a meeting (or ten) over bullying, or inappropriate IEP goals, or too much homework, or anxiety issues, or a long, long list of phobias affecting James’s school day. This was the first year I experienced entire months without worry over sending James to school, and the first year that James did not come home in tears one single time.

So thank you, thank you interested and enthusiastic teachers, available and optimistic administrators, and friendly pop music playing, ice-cream wielding bus drivers who brought your A-game to my son all year. I am incredibly grateful to have made it in one piece to summer vacation, but not half as grateful as I am to have two more years left at this school.

Happy Summer Vacation Eve!