LETTERS

Bittersweet goodbye to Drum Rock Early Childhood Center

Posted 6/28/18

To the Editor: It's always bittersweet when a school year comes to an end. Looking back and realizing it's over. Remembering the days that seemed to go on forever, but still wondering how it all passed so quickly. Time flies when you're busy.

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LETTERS

Bittersweet goodbye to Drum Rock Early Childhood Center

Posted

To the Editor:

It's always bittersweet when a school year comes to an end. Looking back and realizing it's over. Remembering the days that seemed to go on forever, but still wondering how it all passed so quickly. Time flies when you're busy. Times flies when you're doing something you love.

The end of this school year is particularly bittersweet. It always pulls at the heartstrings when we have to bid our little ones adieu. For some, it's their time to head off to kindergarten, the preschool years complete. Luckily, we always have our returning kids and we look forward to our newest little ones that will soon arrive.

But this time, this year, our goodbye is a little different, a little more difficult because we are saying goodbye to our "little school on the hill.”

It's a building, a brick building. Nothing remarkable about the structure itself. But what's extraordinary is what is on the inside. What makes this place so very special is the people who fill the rooms, walk the halls, teach and nurture the children, help each other. It's the family that has been created within these walls that makes this place so very unique, so indescribable.

You can't explain or do it justice with just mere words. It's a feeling, an atmosphere. It's a commitment of souls who work, in concert, as one single community, to bring about an amazing place, a preschool. One built not with just bricks but with one incredibly loving collective heart. It's what happens when you are lucky enough to have a group of wonderful human beings, with a myriad of gifts to offer and experiences to share. When you are fortunate to have a collection of souls who each possess the ability to make a difference in the lives of our students, their families...each other.

Preschool? Not for the weak of heart, not for those who prefer to sit still, not a glamorous job, not a place to be unless you have a keen sense of humor, a love of goldfish and juice-boxes. It is not a place to land if you do not share the joy of silly songs that refuse to leave your head, a wash and wear wardrobe, if you fear bodily fluids, if your idea of a good day doesn't include holding a sticky hand, wiping a runny nose or sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor.

It's not for everyone...but it's for those "someones.” Those special someones who start each new day with bright eyes and smiles. Who get through the tough days in one piece and happily return the next with a fresh start...because every day is a new slate to write a new story on. Who relish those amazing days when progress arrives, when words appears, when the unexpected shows up. Every day is a chance to do something important, learn something new, make a difference.

Soon we say goodbye to Drum Rock, our beloved preschool. We've taken down our ABC's and 1,2,3's. We have packed away our toys, books, art supplies. We've put our classrooms in boxes, taped and labeled, ready for the departure. A Herculean effort, handled with care and laced with our usual team spirit. Because we do everything as a family at Drum Rock. We have been blessed with this gift, with each other.

So as we finished up, after every room was put away for a later day, for our new home across town, we will look back at our time here...with fond memories of the precious little ones who have passed through these doors, the friendships made with families, the family we have created with each other. It's never easy saying goodbye...but it's just a building...oh, but it's not. Drum Rock had been our home away from home, our second family, our saving grace, our collective heart.

The best news is our new school will be filled with the same amazing people, our returning students and their families. And we will look, with excitement, to welcome our new kids and their families in September.

So yes, it is just a building we will be leaving behind…but happily we will be taking with us the most important piece of the puzzle…the heart of our school. I guess it's a heart transplant of sorts. I'm happy to report the prognosis is promising. In fact, we will be better than ever. So we bid farewell to our little school on the hill with perhaps a tear in our eyes, a lump in our throats, a tug in our hearts. It's been an amazing place to be part of, an amazing place to call, home.

Tish Eminger

Teacher assistant at Drum Rock

Comments

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  • dfrancis

    Beautiful sentiment.

    Thursday, June 28, 2018 Report this

  • kymzupke

    Trish, you have always had a way with words. I dont think anyone could have expressed how most people feel inside with the closing of something they have held dear to their heart for many years. Great Letter and I think they should offer you a job..lol

    Friday, June 29, 2018 Report this