Five Minute Friday: Finish

It is Lisa Jo Baker's last couple of weeks hosting us on Five Minute Friday so I guess Finish is a good word to end with.  Kate Motaung will be taking up the torch officially on August 8th.  The rules have not changed.  Write for 5 minutes without editing, rethinking, or rewriting.  Write what is in your heart.  Link up here and then comment on the person's post that comes before your post. It is pretty simple.  Today's word is Finish....Ready, Set, GO!

My summer vacation as a teacher is finished.  In two weeks I will head back to school and welcome in another school year.  This year will be different than any others, because this year I will finish twenty-five years of teacher and retiring.....but there is more.  July 29th the Board of Education in Randolph County will be deciding if they want me to teach for the system for the county I live in.....so I will finish up my time at Benjamin Russell.  Finishes are sad sometimes.  When you are ending a race or a project you have worked hard on they can be fun and exciting.....but in this case it will me mean leaving special peers I have grown to know and love.  I always think of the word finish at the end of every school year as the seniors get ready to walk across the field and finish something they began in kindergarten.  Sometimes I am sad because I feel as if they are moving on....and I am stagnant.  Other times I beam with pride when I see what they have overcome or accomplished in their four years with me.  The result is the same....they finish....and now I will be finishing.  I am reminded of the words of Christ upon the cross.  In John 19:30 we find the end of Christ's life near and "When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."  I believe that is why the word finished has such a sad connotation to me.  It means time is done.  Yet, as I sit here today and think about the word I find myself smiling.  I will be finished with teaching.....and beginning a new life as a retiree.  I guess that is the good thing about the word finish...it usually implies that something else will be beginning.  For that I am grateful!  How about you?