I was standing with a senior in the week leading up to graduation, and she said, "I'm really ready to graduate, and I'm really going to miss coming to school at Field." I replied, "You are really ready to graduate, and I'm really going to miss you." We both smiled and each went our way.
It's that time of year again. It's time to say goodbye. Goodbye is an opportunity — an opportunity to say the thing you have been thinking, but that might have felt too vulnerable to share. It's an opportunity to acknowledge that even though things haven't been perfect, they have been on the whole really good.
Goodbye means you are leaving, but it also means you are making it possible to return.
A chorus of goodbyes floods the hallways in the closing days of school: student to teacher, teacher to teacher, player to coach. In those goodbyes, I have overheard thank-yous, laughter, and lots of see you in August.
See you in August. It's a promise that moves through the corridors. A promise that for those of us not graduating, we will return to this community carrying new experiences, perspectives, and ideas. That even though we scatter for a time, this place, this community, will be here ready to receive us, to begin anew.
Come back with lots of stories—silly and heart-wrenching, the kind you can't wait to tell and the kind that will be revealed more slowly. As the goodbyes recede, I am already hearing the faint echoes of hello and welcome back.
Have a wonderful summer.
Warmly,
Lori
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