The Last Day

It's taken me a few day to back away from the most recent "last day of school" and recovered from the emotions and the drama that the day unveiled.

The morning prep for school was fairly uneventful, other than Heathen #2 frequently mentioning that his "prison term" was almost up and he was being "paroled" for the summer months. I told him that he wasn't being paroled for good behavior - which he declared, "hysterical, Mom. Hysterical."

Heathen #2 headed out the door for the bus with more spring in his step than I've seen in nine months. Heathen #1 finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, grunted goodbye in my general direction, and pulled out for the high school. 

Heathen #3 and I gathered his flowers from the kitchen and we headed for the bus stop. We've always given the teachers flowers on the last day of school - I am under no hallucination that I have calm, quiet, "easy" heathens. You've survived the school year with them - you earned flowers. 

This year, we also had flowers for Ms. Sylvia - our morning bus driver. After several years of seeing her smile every morning and her cheery hello and her wave, it was the last morning one of my Heathens would board her bus.

The End of an Era:
Heathen #3 on the LAST day of elementary school.

I've stood at an elementary bus stop for twelve years now. Heathen #1 waved goodbye for the first few years, but outgrew it by third grade. Heathen #2 also waved goodbye from the bus window for a few years, but third grade ended it as well. 

Heathen #3 has dutifully waved goodbye to me from the bus window EVERY DAY for five school years. I had mentally prepped myself for the "last wave."  I was going to take his picture as a memento of his last day of elementary school. 

And... HE DIDN'T WAVE GOODBYE.

He sat down in his seat and didn't even look at me. I felt cheated! How could he not wave?  He was in a good mood when he got on the bus. I was completely confused by the lack of his wave. 

With only about two hours until the Heathens started returning from school, I headed out to run a few errands. I managed to arrive home just before Heathen #2 got off the bus. I was ready to photograph a happy, grinning Heathen. This is what I witnessed instead:

Heathen #2 came home next, and I finally understood the lack of a wave. 

He headed straight for his bedroom where he curled up on his bed and cried for 20 minutes. I had forgotten how hard the last day is for my little quarter-circle need. After about 45 minutes, I coaxed him out of his room with a promise of cuddling and watching Box Trolls with Momma - and no brothers. By the time the movie ended, he was fine. 

Heathen #1 came home last. I figured he would be so excited - he was now a senior!  Only 1 year left. It was so anticlimactic:

So I forced him to celebrate:

Unfortunately, it rained Friday night and we couldn't do what I had planned to celebrate the last day of school. But, Saturday night was perfect. 

I found sky lanterns several weeks ago. The boys have done them before and really loved them. I bought them each one. So we lit them Saturday night and sent them up in the field behind out house. 

It was peaceful and the Heathens stood and watched them with us until the fuel burned out and we lost them in the night sky. 

The stress of the school year is over. The stress of the upcoming year has yet to start. The Zoo simply gets to BREATHE and BE for the next few months. How lovely.