The Magic of New Beginnings
Oh every year it hits me at the same time. June and July with their heady mix of sweaty, red faced children, paddling pools in the garden, ice cream for pudding and summer checked dresses and grey shorts. I love it but it is always slightly tinged.
For there’s the other side.
The sports day, the leavers assembly, the disco, the summer fair. The school report, the final assessments, the new class list, the old one. All finishing. Wrapping up. Coming to an end.
Suddenly a lot of change approaches. Our children feel it. Their teachers feel it. And we feel it. Change is in the air. The summer term flies quicker than any other term has done before. We say to ourselves, “wow hasn’t it gone quick” but we don’t really believe that it’s almost at an end. Until it really is.
It is the overwhelming to do list that pushes us over the edge perhaps. The need to be in twenty places at once this term and sign up to man the stall, remember the coins and order the sports day t shirt. Staring at the calendar worried about how we will make the childcare work for 6 weeks. Or maybe it’s the new class list. The worry for friendships. The new teacher that we don’t know. Perhaps it’s just realising how time has gone so very quickly once again; ticking against us. Mocking us for wanting the days to fly by when they were little and now we just want the hands to freeze. Just to soak in this last bit before we wave goodbye to the class.
We say goodbye to the junk model creations clutched tightly and presented proudly at pick up or parents chatting together in groups on a packed playground as we watch our children shout for snacks and beg for play dates. And then we brace ourselves for the next wave that engulfs us when maybe we aren’t quite ready for it.
As a teacher I feel it too. The final day of the summer term was always a bit of a sad one. My car would be filled with gifts and cards; beautiful flower arrangements and a lot of chocolate, but I would drive home in silence; sad that they were no longer mine. Sad that our year was up and I had to say goodbye. Such an anticlimax.
This year my youngest child began Reception. My middle one leaves his infant school and my eldest moves to Year 7. A year has passed. And it FLEW. Right now I’m at the top of an emotional rollercoaster and my cart is definitely about to tip. If you are also on a similar ride, I just wanted to say that I totally get how you might be feeling and I promise that I’ll hold your hand all the way to the bottom ❤️
