Water Boarding

So, I was driving along the river this morning and I was thinking about life in general.....and then I began thinking about water boarding.  I was thinking about it in two different ways.  I think the river on my left was making me think about being at Lake Willoughby last weekend.  There were young people there water boarding – also called paddle boarding.  Although it is not something I have the desire (or dexterity) to try, it was a glorious sight to see. 

I also know that there is a form of torture known as water boarding.  I know that it involves water and making people feel like they are drowning - over and over again.    There is nothing glorious about that form of ‘boarding’.  However, those two thoughts – running through my brain in a parallel fashion – made me think about these last few days of school.

There are the absolutely glorious moments.  They include quiet smiles, hugs, and tokens of appreciation.  There was my friend, Mark Monahan, our copier man who came in with a card and kind words.  I was his children’s principal many years ago.  He has serviced many copiers for me in the past 40 years.  There was a serenade performed by one of my staff members.  There was the report card joke where one of my teachers got several others to play along – and they got me good. (I will not miss report cards.)   There was the short email from a parent that I have worked with since arriving at Maple.  It has been hard work – not always fun work.   That note meant a great deal to me.  There was the fire drill that ended with Photographer Michael standing on the roof to take a “family” picture.  There were the administrators who had great fun standing one at a time to read some of my Cathieisms.

It was interesting to note how I have changed over the years.  They did a similar thing when I left Central School in Bellows Falls.  I remember hearing the words “I will be riding out of town for a meeting in Montpelier in the morning.  I will be back by the end of the day – God willing and the crick’ don’t rise.”  I don’t think I have used that one in Claremont.  “Don’t get your panties in a bunch” has stayed with me through the years and I seem to have added “Suck it up, cupcake”. 

All of these have been glorious moments – and yet, I am not sure which forms of water boarding they truly are.  It is a cross between an oxymoron and a dichotomy.  There is a sense of sadness embedded in each of the glorious moments.  Does that make any sense at all?  I think part of the problem is that I have truly loved these last five years.  I can honestly say that there has never been a day that I have not wanted to come to work.  I have sometimes not looked forward to something I have had to do – but I have enjoyed being able to come to a vibrant school community each and every day.  I have had people ask me – starting quite a while ago – if I was counting the days until the end.  I could always tell them that I was not.  I can no longer say that.  The end is so near that not counting is not possible.

The year is almost finished.  Finished is a sad word.  It is related to being done – to coming to the end of something.  Those thoughts brought me back to my time at the lake.  I came upon a paragraph in the book that I was reading.

“He was a regular kid with all the flaws and all the growing pains of a regular teenager.  He was fourteen years old – fourteen! – with his whole life stretched out in front of him.  Not a saint, no, not a saint.  But who among us would want to be judged only by the first fourteen years of our lives?  Who among us was complete...and…and…and… finished at 14?”

I could rephrase that.  “Who among us wants to be judged by the first 65 years of their life?  Who among us is complete – and finished at 65?” 

As I have reflected on these feelings throughout the day and on the ride home, I have come to some conclusions.  Age is just a number.  Finished is just a word.  I am simply a work in progress.

Perhaps it is time to go out and try paddle boarding.