Besides getting my classroom ready for the first day of students, this time of year has always been my favorite at school. I loved the week or two (or more) at the end of the summer unpacking the things I'd packed and stored just a few months before, arranging student desks, making name tags for the desks, getting the first wall calendar of the year posted and filled in, making my first and second-day lesson plans. I still had my handwritten lesson plans from the first year I taught until several years ago when a flood at school ruined all my boxes of teaching things I had stored.

But April and May-- always my favorite time of the school year. This is when the teachers start counting the days. And they only count the school days--it sounds like so much less. Just returned from spring break, a million things to still accomplish and finish before the year ended, but the end was in sight. So many fun classroom days on the horizon-- field day, class field trip to the Tattered Cover, walking field trip to Secrest Park for a grade level picnic day, the year-end five day trivia championship in my classroom, rocket launch, snuggle up and read day, sixth grade continuation at the junior high, overnight field trip to Bent's Fort, class sleepover in the gym on a Friday night... the list could go on and on. I have so many memories of my classroom years-- not nearly as many from the library years. Being in the library was the best job, but never had the meaning and connection with either the kids or the teachers that the classroom times do.

Eighty-four of my "friends" on facebook are former students. A few others are parents of former students. Most of the kids are now married and have their own kids. One of them just had their first baby yesterday. So many years have passed since I first started teaching, but the memories haven't faded by any means.

I really miss being in the classroom at the moment--that's probably why I'm agreeing to sub more than I have been all year. There's such an energy at this time of year in the classroom and I need to be part of it. At this time last year I was counting down the days til my last day of teaching. That seems like such a long, long time ago. This first year of retirement has gone by so very, very fast. Just like those last two months of being in the classroom always did-- it always went by so very, very fast.

Spring has definitely sprung.