Day 509: We're All A Bunch Of Criers!

So this was it. My last day. The Big Goodbye.

And what a sad one it was....

My morning with the Parrots went as usual actually, until the last period where Barbie had secretly planned a little surprise goodbye party. I came in to the class and all my kids were standing there, each holding up a different letter that said "WE LOVE SCOTT"! It was so cute and it totally caught me off guard!! We then had a cake and some pop and Barbie presented me with a special goodbye card that the kids had put together for me. There was little pictures and signatures from each child, and then all of the Korean staff had written goodbye messages for me as well. It was really sweet and a very touching gift.

I was feeling really sad but wasn't going to cry cause I almost never ever cry (like not even once a year!) and I didn't want to get too emotional in front of the kids. Barbie had already started to cry even before the end of the party and I thought that one of us should be strong so I tried to play it cool. But then the end of the day came and slowly I started to break down. I had to give goodbye hugs to each of them as they left to go get on their bus and that's when I started to choke up. I was doing pretty good with holding in the tears until Isabelle came by. She gave me a big hug and told me she'd never forget me cause I'd always be in her heart and that's when the waterworks began. I started to cry and once I started it was damn hard to stop I tell ya! All my kids had left and I just looked at my empty classroom and I felt so sad that I'd never be their teacher again and then I really started to cry. I was all alone in my room so it wasn't too bad but then Katie and Addie came in to give me a big hug. Yeah....Scotty's a big softie!!!

A few minutes later I noticed that Isabelle was still in the library and she said her mom was coming by to pick her up and say goodbye to me. When she came in she even had a present for me, and told me how much it meant to her that I was her child's teacher (even though I haven't taught her since Feb!) and that I'd always be remembered by her and her family. Well then next thing you know she started to cry too! Oh boy! Everyone's a crier around here it seems. The teachers are crying, the moms are crying, I'm crying...what the hell? ;-)

The rest of the afternoon was much less emotional, but still really sad. I had snack parties again with all my classes and then next thing I knew the day was done. 6:40 had arrived and my teaching career at POLY was officially over. Done. It was a really strange feeling...

I cleaned off my desk for Barb, took my photos and other personal items home, and then that was it. It was all over. Luckily I had plans for after work so I didn't really have the chance to just sit and feel sad. Addie and I went and saw 'Sahara' and it was an alright movie. I went home after the movie with the great feeling inside that I was now officially blisffully unemployed. Sad to say goodbye to my kids, but damn happy to have the next few months off of work!