By Tana Christian Suggs
School is winding down, and in the next week or so, many local school-aged children will be jumping off the big, yellow school bus for the last time this school year. I can’t help thinking about many, many years ago…way back when I was in school. The last days of school were so magical when you had the long, warm and adventurous days of summer to look forward to, and the next school year seemed eons away.
Then I became a mother, and the last day of school brought about a different memory. After months of seeing my two sons dragging as they got off the school bus, lugging their overloaded book bags on their little shoulders, tired and dreading the very idea of cracking a book to do homework, I wasn’t sure how they would make it to the end of the school year. But then miraculously, on the last day of school they exited the bus with a second wind as they jumped off the steps with a new enthusiasm and their eyes wide with excitement as they anticipated the upcoming days of summer filled with lazy mornings, swimming, hanging with friends, riding bikes, sleepovers, playing outdoors till dark, camps, and trips to the beach. Oh the adventures of summertime!
This year the end of school is bittersweet for me as it’s the very last, last day of school as my younger son graduates from high school and moves on to a new stage in life. When he was just a toddler, I didn’t think this day would ever come, but here it is! We finished down to the wire with a flurry of senior projects and graduation activities that kept me too busy to really think about the impact of his last day. It’s a milestone! And as with many milestones a child reaches, this one leaves a twinge of melancholy just knowing that “school days” are done…over…final! But I know that soon enough, the melancholy will give way to excitement in knowing more of life’s adventures are waiting for my son just around the corner.
Congratulations and best of luck to the Class of 2013!!!
What are your memories of your last days of school or your child’s last days? How will you fill the long days of summer? And what adventure(s) are you looking forward to this summer?
