Nostalgia

I am sitting here unable to sleep on the eve of the last day of school. 

I am happy that this school year is coming to an end as it is one of the worst year (if not the worst year) on record in my short teaching career. 

I can't stop my brain from thinking about the past. The places and faces of the teachers that have graced the halls where I still walk each day. 

I thought that a little trip down memory lane might calm my frenzied brain!

 ~~~~~~~~~

When I first started teaching at the school I am at currently, a huge influx of new teachers started at the same time. 

We formed our own little band of misfits. 

We had dinners every Thursday night without fail to discuss, whine, and cry. 

While that first year was a pretty bad year (aren't all first years pretty bad?) I always look back on that first year with a heavy dose of happy nostalgia. 

No matter which way I turned I had a friend to laugh with, a shoulder to cry on, or someone to share joys and battle scars with. 

A small trip down memory lane of the faces of that first year:

Poker night (I still don't know how to play poker)

Adam and I before the Semi Formal 

Lexi and I in our old apartment complex

Annual Camping trip to Lake MooMaw

Jake, Adam, & Me the last day of school our first year right after the kids left!

~~~~~~~~~
We managed to keep our little group intact for the next few years and added a few new faces and life events:

Kate and I on her wedding day

A group of us posing before another semi formal dance. 

Tricia and I doing a "middle school girl pose" after a dance.

A gansters and flappers birthday party!

New Year's Eve!
~~~~~~~~~After three years we started to slowly disintegrate. 

One by one almost all of these other young teachers moved on to other schools.  

Adam was the first to leave followed by best friend Tricia, her then husband, Emily, Emalee & Tim, and a few other supporting characters. 

Eventually our large group of over 10 dwindled to just 3.  

The friendships might have evolved or faded away, but I still miss each and every single one of them terribly and think of them each day. 

                                ~~~~~~~~~

Two years ago I got my first "mentee"  

She ended up becoming a close friend who has always been extremely thoughtful. 

On more than one occasion she has brought breakfast in to work for me (brownie points!) 

One day I complained about being sick so she stopped on the way to work and brought me tissues and orange juice (Seriously how thoughtful and sweet is that?)

She was always up for whiny dinners and working on projects. 

Yesterday we went out for one of those dinners and she confessed to me that she is not coming back next year. 

I am sad that she is leaving, as she was one of my last remaining pieces of sanity, but I am happy that she has the opportunity to move on. 

                                 ~~~~~~~~~
One of the traditions of my school is on the last day of school all the teachers go out to the bus landing and wave as the busses drive off. The kids wave back and the bus drivers honk their horns. 

In 13 short hours we will be repeating this tradition. 

I have been listening to the new-ish Justin Timberlake song on repeat tonight "Mirrors" (Hey, it's catchy!) and the line keeps sticking in my head is: 

Yesterday is history

Tomorrow's a mystery

I am SO glad that this year is over and I am sad to be losing yet another comrade in the fight against sanity, but maybe, just maybe, next year will bring new faces with new potential.