I end this year with a mostly positive mindset. Some changes in the workplace are very promising but others bring sadness. Good friends leaving for greener pastures and former students leaving because they were asked to.
There's the rub. We all want to go out encircled by friends and co-workers wishing us well and proclaiming sadness at our leave-taking.
A colleague who is exiting this way will be missed. She and I have taught together for 15 years. I taught her children, and counseled them, and remain close to them all. We saw each other through divorces and teenaged problems and raged against the machine. We are compadres, partners in a common fight to end ignorance.
Another friend is retiring. She is planning to move her 94 year old, blind mother in with her. That tells you all you need to know about this kind, slightly scatty woman whom I've wept with when her husband died, and laughed uncontrollably over foibles of youth.
Our assistant principal, a woman I thought I had NOTHING in common with when she came, became a wonderful confidante. We shared a two minute meeting of the minds most mornings and I discovered early on that we share a love of literature and good theater, as well as travel. I will miss those daily affirmations of the spirit.
A former student didn't fare as well in her mode of departure. She was pink-slipped, non-renewed, fired anyway you look at it. She's bitter, sad, upset, blindsided - all the emotions you would feel if this happened. She's young and will recover; I wish her only the best. She will be a better person because of what happened, I think, and I pray she finds a job soon.
Every person who travels the road alongside you leaves a mark. I was lucky that I learned at an early age that you don't have to be friends with everyone, only those you choose.
I've chosen well.
Well said, friend...
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