Day 234: Home Office

Yesterday was a day. I went to the office for the last time until January. With Covid cases on the rise in the state and classes ending, we are closing campus. 

At lunch, one of my graduating students stopped by to drop off this cheese board:

Her dad had made it. It's his new hobby:

His logo is fremily: friends that become family. He is giving these boards to people he holds in that category. This is a family I have literally sat in the hospital with, exchanged texts with at all hours, and celebrated with on more occasions than I can count. 

I love my work. It is the highest privilege  to get to know these students and their families. To watch them grow and launch them. I love having students just show up at my door--whether I know them or not--to talk. My job is so much more than the teaching and the administrating, and I will miss those parts until I can go back in January.

I hauled everything I thought I might possibly need to my car at the end of the day. I had to just sit there and cry for a minute. Covid has taken--and given--so much, but yesterday was a day that the loss felt more acute.

Today, I'm grading and administrating. I'm grateful that we could have an unrushed breakfast together at the table. I won't miss the commute for the next two months. Silver linings. But man, I will miss the kids.