This morning I watched as the children who board the school bus in front of our house got on for the last time this school year. I had already heard from one of them the many things she was looking forward to this week. The final week of school was to be filled with fun things…..water games, field sports, ice cream, many special outings to various parks and other amusements. The learning of this year is complete. They have, no doubt, cleaned out their desks and have a grocery bag of things to take home. Tests are finished. What was hoped to be accomplished is past, whether the goal was met or not.

As the kids got on the bus I noticed the changes in some of them. All are taller, their now longer legs attached to torsos that are beginning to lengthen or fill out in ways that point to the development to come. I watched as one of the moms took a picture of them boarding the bus, a hoped-for mirror of ‘before’ and ‘after’ which will fill the scrapbook of the first and last days of school. Only one will move on to middle school next year and he patiently stood as his mom snapped one more picture of his elementary school days. I dare say he will not stand for such a thing come fall. But she does not know that yet.

I thought of the year that has gone by for these students. They have learned many important new skills, valuable information, and have overcome obstacles that are a part of moving from childhood to adolescence. Many have also made new friends and come to love teachers they weren’t too sure of in September. Some have learned to deal with words that have hurt them, ways they have been ridiculed by those who make it their business to make certain children’s lives miserable. My prayer is that they have acquired ways to heal those wounds so they do not carry them into the next school year or into the rest of their lives. Some have been so inspired and moved by something they have learned that it has planted a seed that will carry them toward their life’s work. Others have continued to struggle to understand what the subjects they study have to do with their real life. All this and so much more happens in any given school year.

Those of us who are no longer in the school year mode often forget this rhythm, this nine month attempt to grow in new ways. But if we allow ourselves to reflect on these past school year months, we will all come to see that we, too, have learned new skills, gained some information that has shaped who we have become now that summer is here. Some of us have made new friends and lost very dear ones. Many of us have found new teachers we never thought we’d find. Like those elementary school kids, many have also had to use deflective armor to ward of hurtful words and rise to our highest selves to not be taken down by some real life playground bully. If we are blessed, we may also have learned something that planted a seed for the ‘what next’ in our lives, something we never thought we would have the opportunity to experience, something that may move us down our life’s path in an adventure we only dreamed about in September.

September to June doesn’t seem like a very long time. But when measured by all the lessons, tests, friendships, teachers, we might experience, it can be an amazing nine months. As adults, we have most likely not grown taller. Many of simply hope to not grow shorter! But hopefully we have grown in ways that have made us healthier and stronger. No one captured our entry into the journey in September and no one came to snap our photo as we headed out into this particular morning. But make no mistake about it, we each have changed in ways that are visible and invisible.

May God add a blessing to this school year for the children and for all of us.