Dear Last Day Teacher,
In the final moments of class, they stand around feverishly signing yearbooks, initiating awkward hugs, and taking cues from their teacher on how to properly say goodbye.
This isn't her first rodeo, but she still hasn’t found the perfect way to say it.
Some bring her trinkets: a candle, a handcrafted sign, a picture frame.
Each humble gesture reminds her that she did the best she could and is certain, beyond certain, they all know she loves them.
That, she concludes, is the biggest thing she hoped they would learn this year.
The final bell rings to loud applause. Cue Alice Cooper's “School’s Out for the Summer.”
Visions of summer dance in their heads as they bang lockers upon departure.
She smiles at their loud, very loud, celebration, and then, for the first time all year, the room grows eerily quiet, pandemic quiet.
She slowly turns her smeared eraser right side up, snaps the lid back on her dry erase markers, straightens the messy desks for the final time, and marvels at their notes on the board. “Were going to miss you.”
Because she can’t help herself, she adds an apostrophe to “We’re” and says aloud, “Lord, I’ve taught them nothing." This makes her chuckle because she knows it’s not true.
She collects a few stray papers from the floor and imagines what the future will look like for each face.
How do you simply say goodbye after 180 days?
She still doesn’t know.
In the solitude of the moment, she prays a silent, “Keep them safe, Lord,” prayer.
At the door, a colleague taps, “Ready for lunch?”
“Sure, let me grab my purse,” she replies.
As she heads for the door, she turns out the lights and looks back one final time on the 2020-2021 school year.
The room is dark and empty, but her mind deceives her as a highlight reel plays in slow motion. All of the sad parts and good parts are mixed together like an abstract painting that declares itself a work of art though nobody really knows why.
She closes the door and whispers to no one in particular.
“I’m sure going to miss you guys. You know that, right?”
-CDB