Last Days

The last day of school is bringing a bucket and cloth for scrubbing your desk with soapy water and carrying art projects home in paper grocery bags.

The last day of school is tattered notebooks and half empty boxes of crayons.

The last day of school is sweating through field day and thinking it is so weird to see your teacher wearing shorts.

The last day of school is inside jokes scribbled into yearbooks and asking every teacher to sign them so you don't have to go back to class.

The last day of school is the tantalizing promise of sleeping late and sunbathing and uninterrupted reading and not understanding why it feels a little bit sad.

The last day of school is watching students walk away from you, not knowing if you'll know how their lives go, but knowing you'll wonder.

The last day of school is wondering whether any of it made a difference.

The last day of school is tomorrow.