If The Walls Could Talk

Today I'm thinking about not only the high school graduates, but also the educators who will retire, for whom the 2014-2015 school year was a milestone, their last. My friend Jo, school counselor at Prairie Elementary, is one of those. Next week, she'll bid farewell to her school family and launch into the next chapter in life. Their good-bye time together resulted in this awesome reflection lesson.

They read the Dr. Seuss classic, Oh The Places You'll Go, 

then answered these four reflection questions:

Who would you like to be someday?

Where do you want to go visit?

What is one thing you have never done that you want to do?

What is one thing you will do this summer?

Don't you love these? What a sweet way to get closure and say good-bye. Congratulations, Jo. I'm proud of you and I wish you all the best.

I couldn't help but wonder what the walls in my old office, Room 11B, would say if they could talk. Oh, the stories they could tell. In fourteen years, I've seen a lot, prayed a lot, helped solve a lot of problems, and dried a lot of tears.

I went through some iPhoto archives to a role-play from a few years ago; 

what do you suppose these littles were 

thinking, 

feeling,

experiencing.

As I reflect with fondness on my time in that office, which is empty now and ready for another season, I feel like the walls would share a story of gratitude and growth, of enthusiasm and empathy, of hope and love. 

But I also know that I made a whole lot of mistakes, in Room 11B. Words I said that I wish I'd have filtered, problems I wrestled with that I ran out of steam to resolve, hurdles I encountered that I just couldn't get over with any kind of grace.

Recently I've learned to think of the word FAIL as

First Attempt In Learning.

Suffice it to say, I've learned a lot, in Room 11B.

So as I look forward, I'm excited to keep growing with those peacemakers, who are now fourth graders and headed to room A7 with me. 

Oh, the possibilities that lie ahead ...