Our Life & Times

Konnor's 5th grade promotion ceremony was this morning. I knew I would cry, but I managed to hold most of it in until the end. Konnor was one of 4 kids who stood up and read a speech they had written. He mentioned that his dad always tells him that if you fall down you need to dust yourself off and get back up again and keep trying. That's when I started to cry... Then, Konnor's prinicipal, Mrs. Anne Covey, a wonderful woman, read this poem to the parents and the tears were flowing! Here is the poem:

I see children as kites.

You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground.

You run with them until you are both breathless.

They crash...you add a longer tail...they hit the rooftop;

you pluck them out of the spout...you patch, comfort, adjust and teach.

You Watch them lifted by the wind and assure them, someday they will fly.

Finally, they are airborne.

But they need more string, and you keep letting it out. With each twist of the ball of twine, there is sadness that somehow goes along with the joy, because the kite becomes more distant, and somehow you know that it won't be long before that beautiful creature will snap the lifeline that bound you together and soar as it was meant to soar...free and alone.

Only then do you know that you did your job.

Is anyone reading this yet that hasn't started to cry??? Ugh! The most tearful moment came for me at the end when the children all received their promotion certificates, they also got a blue carnation. The principal had told the children to think about a person in their lives who inspires them and that they look up to the most and give their carnation to that person. Konnor, in front of all of his friends, handed me his flower and gave me a hug. That was it for me!!