Last day at school

I was sort of dreading today...my last day at school. It's just that I'm not good at the whole good-bye thing. But I went ahead as planned, knowing that I had to do it for myself and it was a healthy step to leaving. It turned out to be so special and fun! Zeneida made me a special lunch of all my favorite things (salami rice, avocado, fried yuca-arepita de yuca) which was a great way to start! Then after lunch, the kids had a presentation from each classroom. Some were acrostics with the name "JESSI", others were little poems or dramas. Lots of kids wrote me little notes about how I'm their best friend and one girl told me I'm like her mom. Special, special kids. Zeneida got up to sing a little song but didn't make it through it all. They had a plaque for me with a great engraving about my work with Kids Alive. Pulling away from the school for the last time was surreal, like none of this is really happening. Even though it's hard, it's also encouraging because I know for sure I will be back and see them all again...after all, we have all of Ariel's family here! So it turned out to be a great day...this last day of school.