Endings and Dirt Digging

Spencer has been crying for the last half hour. I've sat and snuggled with him, but he can't be consoled. Today was the last day of school and he is very, very sad. His first kindergarten teacher Mrs. Bauer had to leave midway through the year, and now his most recent kindergarten teacher Miss Hendersen is changing schools and won't be around next year.

It is his first ending. Or at least his first awareness of an ending. Last year he wasn't quite in-tune with the ending of pre-school. But this time he knows that he will probably never see Miss Hendersen again. When you are in kindergarten, there is no Facebook.

He's also upset that he won't be seeing any of his friends over the summer either. Of course that is not true. He is playing t-ball. He sees some of his friends at the neighborhood pool. And then he will see all of them next year. He is just feeling a little sensitive right now. Kindergarten is over.

Endings are hard. New chapters are hard. When you don't know what the future holds, the present can be hard to enjoy. How can I enjoy myself now when I need to be worried about what is on the horizon? Things won't be the same and I don't like that. What if things are worse?

Miss Hendersen was thinking though. She had the kids make memory books and she even made a cute little movie with pictures of the kids doing fun kindergarten-y things: painting, exploring, learning the alphabet, digging in the dirt. A good idea for all of us, especially when we don't know when those endings are going to come. Sometimes endings can take us by surprise. It's a good idea to keep a memory book. Or make a little movie. Or write a blog. Something to remind us that when we do reach that next chapter, when things are even better than they were, we had a great time in kindergarten.