Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water. ~Antoine Rivarol

To say my heart is heavy is an understatement.  Usually the end of a school year is a highly anticipated time.  It is a time to celebrate all that has been done in the past nine months and look forward to the few months we have to recharge.  We finally get to say goodbye to that kid that has been driving us crazy all year long only to find ourselves strangely teary when the time to say goodbye actually comes.  We take things off our walls and pack up our desk so that our classrooms can be cleaned and the floors waxed.  The list of things to do is long and unpleasant (for the most part) but once everything on that list is checked off, there isn't a new one to make.  Plans are made for those first few days off and we say goodbye to the adults with a promise of a summer lunch sometime soon.

This year though, it is much different.  The to-do lists are just as long and there are many goodbyes that are going to happen.  Many of us can't wait for the year to be over, just because it means the roller coaster we have been on is done...for now.  But instead of looking forward saying "have a good summer" and planning those summer lunches, I am dreading seeing the teachers I have worked with this year.  

I am worried about them all.  I am sad that so many of them are packing up their classroom, storing away books that haven't been used all that much yet, unsure of when they are going to get to unpack those boxes again.  I have said, "I'm sorry."  so many times and it just doesn't see to be enough.  I am not sure what else I can say to them.  

Since we first got a glimmer of what this budget crisis might mean, I have been able to push it out of my mind by saying, "Ok, well, I will see you next week."  Well, this week is it.  There is no "next week".  So, I imagine, there will be more tears this week as I say goodbye and good luck.