time out!

Jamie at the farewell assembly for his retirement.

We have just had some very exhausting, emotional weeks! My last day of school for the year was June 2nd. If you're a teacher you know how tiring those last weeks are! In my last 6 weeks of school I close up 3 rooms of art supplies, and I say goodbye to 1,200 students... While I was doing all of this, we were making some very tough family decisions.
After some very late nights and much discussion, my husband made the difficult decision to retire from his job as an Elementary Principal! The state put forth an incentive, but you had to decide fast! Friday was my husband's last day with students after many years of teaching, coaching, and being a principal. He's been a principal since he was 30 years old.
His last day was a very emotionally draining day. His school had a surprise assembly, and they really did surprise him. The classes each had a little presentation for him. It was adorable! Some sang, some read letters, some gave pictures, some presented gifts... we laughed, we cried. There was a slide show and one of the teachers sang. That's when everyone really started crying. It was extremely moving to see all those kids crying. Then there was a lot of hugging. There were treats for everyone. It was such a sweet way to end a year, and a career. What a lot of loving, caring, endearing children and co-workers! We are still talking about it, it was too much to take in! My husband was extremely touched.
Last Saturday his dad went into the hospital with heart problems. All evening there were tornado warnings- so the hospital staff kept having to move patients to the hall. The warning would be over, they would move patients back to their rooms, then a warning would start again! 3 times they moved patients to the hall and back. We waited in emergency until 4 in the morning- waiting for warnings to be over and he could be put in a regular room. He wound up having heart surgery a few days later. Now he's home and doing well. We are all recovering!
Between late nights with retirement decision making and paper work, days in the hospital, and many other events... like open houses, birthday celebrations, showers, etc. that come in the Spring ... and I had 2 days of curriculum workshops... I'm exhausted!
Hopefully next week will involve some quiet time for art work!