I've been away.   On Sunday I returned from an eleven day work trip to Europe and I'm still recovering (more on that later).

Home with just five days left of preschool until September, I started to feel the sadness of another year coming to an end.  We wrote our goodbye cards to the children (which look much like those from the beginning) and I can do nothing to hold back the tears.

Today we said our goodbyes to the Tuesday/Thursday class.  Seven of them are on their way to Kindergarten, one of which is my Julen.  We opened the preschool when Julen was just a baby, so it's hard to imagine Willow House without him.  He truly grew up there.  With so many wonderful memories I will miss sharing our school days there together.

As we made a circle at the end of our day to say our good-bye verse together one last time, I was grateful that the children were able to say it on their own as after the first sentence both my teaching partner and I got so choked up we lost our voice. 

Be real in your heart

Be thankful for all you have

Be shining where you are

Until we meet again

To answer my own question from a year ago, I guess it never gets easier.