You should see my classroom. Oh....my....gosh. What a mess. I'm still laid off, dang it, so I'm putting things away very carefully as someone else will have this room next year. Nobody has told me to box my things up, though; I'm waiting for news with baited breath. And I've still got some hope tucked away as events unfold in the school corporation.

I did not cry Tuesday until the very last minute while walking kids out to the buses. Then I looked around and saw tears in the other teachers eyes, too. It is so strange. You are so happy summer is here--wow, ten weeks of vacation!!-- but you hate to say goodbye to the kids, the routine, the life of school.

A little weekend trip is on the horizon for tomorrow, a pleasant little diversion. K. needs help with a fine arts project for 4-H, so we're traipsing up to Lansing to my artsy sister Kathy's for help. Kathy paints and can help K. with her creative endeavors much more than I ever could. When I was a teenager, I spent a week at Kathy's every summer. It was my very own vacation. For the first time, later this year, K. will go there on her very own little vacation. And the circle goes round and round...