Ending Things

I have a love/hate relationship with May. May is when our regular activities end, and summer picks up. After 9-10 months of regular activities, I'm thrilled for them to be over for a while. The "hate" part comes with the tremendous amount of stress surrounding the ending of activities. Everything has to end with some kind of Big Event.

Last Thursday evening was our American Heritage Girls spring awards-and-cross-over ceremony. This is the really big one. Caroline, my co-coordinator and I, are frantic for the week prior to this, even though we've been preparing for it for weeks—and even though we've been doing this for 7 years. With 65-70 girls in our troop, we have a lot to think about. We have leader gifts to buy and plan for, tally sheets to double-check, badges and service stars to put in baggies and label, and a dozen other things to remember. And then suddenly, at 10 p.m. on Thursday evening—it's over. Joy!

Friday I gave my World Lit/Geography class a final exam and then headed out to our co-op's end-of-the-year program. I had little responsibility for this one, other than displaying my literature circle's posters and watching my daughter dance and sing. But still, it was another place to be. But joy—our co-op classes are officially over for a couple of months!

Monday we had a family dinner for my high school World Lit/Geography class, which required cooking and buying stuff and coming up with a quiz show so I could pit the students against their parents. And joy—the students won! I wish I could say I was completely done with that class, but I still have a pile of final exams and essays to grade.

And Tuesday night was the Cub Scout end-of-the-year and crossing-over ceremony. Since Dr. H. is the Cubmaster, there was still more stress and frenetic preparation. Badges, pins, belt loops, food, supplies, emails, phone calls. And these faces:

That's the joy of it all. Dr. H. and I are committed to some intense leadership positions, but there is tremendous joy in the knowledge that, through these activities, the lives of these kids are hopefully being enriched. And, honestly, there is much rejoicing in our home when the activities take a summer break.

And while I'm feeling tremendously relieved that these Big Events are over, we still have two more coming up: our oldest son's Eagle Scout ceremony, followed two weeks later by his graduation.

But for just a couple of days, I'm savoring the satisfaction of good endings.

Linked to Finer Things Friday and Just for the Joy of It