For my fellow educators

From Friday, for you. Have a great summer!

***

I just got in to school, sauntered in as usual, carrying my coffee & breakfast. The trip up the three flights of stairs went a little quicker than usual this morning as there were no students to impede my progress. The hallway was dark, as the lights are off in most of the other classrooms - for certain, I am the only teacher here in "my" hallway. I put my key in this lock for the last time just a few minutes ago, and turned the handle to enter this empty classroom.

No posters or colorful artwork greet me today. There are no signs, other than the typical debris, that there were children here just a week ago. The desks, once carefully arranged, are jostled and askew from moving all of my materials. Surfaces, once crowded, are now clear. My imprint is already fading on this room as surely as it will be made on another in three months' time. It is now a blank cell, ready to accept another's presence. Yet, as it happens every time I move, even though the physical artifacts are gone, the memories I have made in this room are indelible.

As you pack up your room and pack away your presence, take a quiet moment to reflect on the many great and wonderful things you've accomplished in that room. Remember the amazing minds you influenced, molded, and taught. The walls you inhabit are but transitory things, as words written in sand. The memories you make within them will remain in the minds and hearts of others as graven in stone.