Free at last, free at last--Great God Almighty, I am FREE at last.*

School's Out. For. The summer. School's. Out. For. Ever.**

Do you see a theme? I'm done with school for the summer. I got an A (by one point!) in Nutrition. Got an A in chemistry. Now the only question is did I get an A or a B in A&P? I'll let you know when I find out.

Today, Joey bid adieu to her beloved teacher, Miss Bev, who is retiring to be a horse breeder and start a nursery. She was a great teacher and had Joey under her tutelage her for 2 years. No words or gifts could adequately thank her for the time and effort she put into teaching my child, but we tried anyway--we went in with another family and gave her a $50 gift certificate to Borders. She was delighted.

We also offered a tearful goodbye to the school that has educated my daughter for the last 4.5 years. We cried when we hugged Miss Sandy, Joey's preschool teacher for 2.5 years. We said goodbye to the office staff and to the other teachers. It was a bittersweet moment. This has been a good school for Joey--Miss Bev and Miss Sandy were very good teachers, and she spent more than half her life attending this school. It's strange to think we won't be going back there after so long driving there every day. (That part I *won't* miss!)

I remember when Joey first enrolled at that school--she was a scant 3 years old and was going just 2 half days a week. Her best friend Baylee was there, too. And for the first 2 weeks, everything was great. But after that, the honeymoon was over. She started to cry every time I'd leave and Miss Sandy, bless her heart, would pick Joey up and walk away to find something interesting to distract her with. It broke my heart to hear her cry, but I knew the tears stopped within minutes of my departure. Sandy and Joey bonded during that first year and as a result, I bonded with Sandy, too.

Joey was so small then. So cute. (She's still cute, of course, but she's different now. Grown up. Worldly. Savvy.) I always dressed her in the cutest clothes and cut her little sandwiches in shapes with cookie cutters. Her favorite was when I made "dog bones" out of her cheese sandwiches. Her hair was always styled nicely and even curled. These days, she looks like a ragamuffin most days because I let her brush and style her own hair which results in some very interesting hair styles, the best of which are the multiple ponytail days.

Now I look at Joey and see that she runs that school. It is primarily a preschool with one gradeschool class that went to 3rd grade. There were only 3 students in the school older than her, so she was among the elite. She would help the younger kids and had quite a fan club of 5 year olds. Many call and ask for playdates, which cracks me up. She knew all the ins and outs of the play yard and often when I'd come to pick her up, she'd be holding court with some of her protegees. A gaggle of 4 and 5 year olds would run up to me, calling me Hey Joey's Mom and asking me if they can come over to play. It was such a contrast from the days when she played in the special "baby area" reserved for children under 4.

It makes me sad to see how much time has passed and how fast it has done so. I sometimes wish I could squish her back into a three year old (she was a delightful 3 year old) but then I look at the beautiful young girl she has become and how independent and smart she is and I wouldn't want to do anything to ruin that. She and I had a lovely conversation over a snack of curried lentils over rice at the mall. She told me about her bad dream last night and I told her about my changing education/career aspirations. I felt like I was sitting there talking with one of my friends. .

And then I realized I was.

--L

*Apologies to Dr. Martin Luther King

**Thanks to Alice Cooper