Today is the last day of my 15th year teaching.  I was walking to the barn to feed the horses and reflecting on how it's really the first day of teaching of year 16.

I wasn't going to attend the "end-of-the-year" breakfast.  My fellow art teacher for the past 5 years, Amber, left to teach in Korea, my art room is in a state of chaos with left-behind projects and piles of old clay waiting to be thrown out (too heavy for the trash cans).  Amber's room is oddly quiet and I am alone again.

How do you explain to someone how lonely this profession can be?  The jokes at the breakfast were truly funny - none involved the art department...art is one of those "other" subjects that everyone loves (because we all have great handwriting and cool supplies) but no one seems to understand where we fit.  I'm not even sure where we fit.  But here is yet another new beginning.

Student-created clay cake - appropriate!

So day one of year 16.  Happy sweet 16.