It's been quite a year.

It's been a year of Monday mornings with 8th grade girls, #tecumsehtuesdays, Wilderness Wednesday morning, FBC Thursdays, Friday adventures, WL Club Saturdays and Sundays at Northview.  

It's been a year of mantras.
There is room at the table. Everyone's in.
Less stuff.
True beauty doesn't seek attention.
Leadership is the willingness to take initiative for the good of others.
Defensive people cannot empathize. 

It's been a year of reading books-- 36 this school year and I LOVED almost all of them. I passed books along to friends, gasped out loud at all the best parts, and didn't want to put my favorites down after the last page. 

It's been a year of bottle flipping, slime and spinners. And a year of asking students to put away their bottles, slime and spinners.

It's been a year of selfie's from Brookie and passing period visits from 8th graders.

It's been a year of writing letters to pen pals-- 320 letters and decorated envelopes sent in the mail to friends who live across town and across the country.

It's been a year of kids like Ellie who make me want to come to school every single day.

It's been a year of the warmest Washington DC trip in history, special administration visits to FBC, a field trip week at Tecumseh that was one of my favorites so far, C lunch with Richter and Hauser and quitting Diet Coke.

It's been a year of hanging out with YL girls like Sophie, Campaigners and Club with WL kids and attending a crazy amount of sports for someone who really doesn't care about sports at all.

It's been a year of friendship bracelets-- I'm over 550 bracelets (a new PR, last year was 523) and I still have a week and a half before I'll retire when I go off to camp for the summer.

It's been a year of treasures like this caricature poster from Kaylin-- notes, bracelets, canvases, mugs and pictures that kids have created for me. I keep every single one.

It's been a year of learning from people around me-- like Chloe Green who is changing the world around the globe, KCraig who speaks with honesty and love, Johnna who has opened her home and invited me to be part of their family, Smelko who puts friendship into action and does life so well, Smooney who puts in the hard work of making her dreams come true and never gives up, Rachel who has resiliency off the charts and embraces all kinds of change.

It's been such a good school year.