School's Out For Summer!

I talked to both of our Grandchildren, Jessica and Mikayla, last night to congratulate them and wish them well as it was the last day of school for another year. For Jessica it was a lot more as she graduated from high school and will be off to college next September. Mikayla, on the other hand, will be going into Gr. 6 in September so she still has a ways to go and a lot of her childhood left to enjoy - but, it sure does fly by fast!

Paulette's Gr. 1 classroom at Bench Elementary School - a memory now.


The last day of the school year used to be a pretty big celebration around our house before Paulette retired from teaching 2 years ago. She taught Gr. 1 and by the end of June was completely worn out, as trying to hold the kids back from the excitement of getting "out for the summer", end of year field trips, sports day and the annual school fair was always one of the most tiring times of the entire year. I'm always amazed at the ability of a good teacher to maintain control of 24 six year olds - I could never do it!

Instead of a classroom, Paulette can now enjoy visits down to the Bay


Today, of course, it's not that big of a deal for us other than the neighborhood will be a bit livelier with kids out playing all day. Our neighbors have a swimming pool that keeps their two young children, and a lot of others, busy splashing and playing for many, many hot summer days so it'll be a lot noisier around here but, that's o.k. too.

An old barn on a farm down the road from our house


Now, the end of school just marks the official start of summer for us. A lot of unretired folks seem to think that us retired people really don't live by a calendar - but that's not true, at least for us. Friday night still marks the beginning of the weekend, long weekends are still regarded as special and the end of the school year is still a milestone. I'm glad it still feels that way, I wouldn't want it to be any different.