Last Day!

Well, another year in the books today. That makes 23 if my math is correct, and to my way of thinking, it was one of my best yet. Our last day was a bittersweet one, our principal, who opened the building with many of us 12 years ago is retiring and so his final comments to the staff were filled with memories and tears all around. He is moving on to a new adventure, a mission to Africa to work with children there as part of his church. He's willing to do whatever needs to be done, just so he's "not in charge" as he told me once.

Adding to the sad side of things today was the loss of my library aid, Yvonne. Thank goodness I got the benefit of her knowledge and expertise for one year, she taught me a lot about running a library. Not only will I miss her help, I will miss her daily friendship, and common sense that helped me make so many decisions this year. Unfortunately during budget cuts these hard working, behind the scenes people are the first to go.

On a more upbeat note, as I turned out the lights in the library now named for our retiring principal, I looked back and a smile came through the tears. I had a real sense of accomplishment and pride in a job well done this year. For the first time in a while, I wasn't quite ready to leave, but I know exciting things will happen next year after a summer of recharging the batteries.

My recharging starts tomorrow with Mother Reader's 48 Hour Reading Challenge. I'll post the titles in my stack early tomorrow morning as I get started!