Hey, We Caught You

The backpacks are hung on the rack freshly disinfected. So are the lunch boxes. We’re short a dozen or so snack-sized Tupperware containers, not to mention several kids’ water bottles. Another school year in the books.

But don’t think for a minute we didn’t notice you all year long. Yep, we caught you. We sure did.

We caught you driving the bus faithfully every day, greeting our children with a smile and your cheerful, “Good morning, kids!” (please tell us what brew of coffee you drink)? You arrive at 6:55 am each morning (even on those mornings we secretly wished the bus might stall). You safely delivered our precious cargo every afternoon without delay (perhaps you should consider taking over the U.S. Mail Service, as well?!). You do your job without fanfare, without accolade, in conditions which are noisy, sometimes temperate, (and this year often freezing, icy, blizzardy, and snow-moundy). Yours is the only job where children get to ride without being strapped and buckled in, yet are almost always guaranteed safe arrival home. Our children get stomach-aches, head-aches, become nervous-nellies when subs fill in for you. You are irreplaceable, appreciated and not thanked enough.

And you, yep you, school office staff … we caught every single one of you. Yep, we noticed you behind those desks and plexiglass windows working feverishly, yet never letting any stress show. You are the ones who do the plate spinning and ball juggling making everything seamless and streamlined. You manage dozens of sick-child-early-check-outs, not to mention late check-ins, help us locate our children’s lost watches, devices, tablets, notebooks, sweatshirts, coats, and more (do you have special detection devices at school?), coordinate hundreds of forms, processes, and procedures, all while answering phone call after phone call after phone call. And you manage to know every face and family at the school making us feel like a community. Thank you, office staff. We notice you and your work and your hearts. You set the tone for our school and what a beautiful tone it is.

Hey, you, Mr. and Mrs. Custodian, we saw you down the hallway. You were moving the tables in the cafeteria and mopping the floors. You were sweating. It was warm. The floors were glistening. And you stopped what you were doing and smiled to say hello. The students love you. You don’t just empty trash cans and clean tables. You interact with our students. They know you and you know them. Thank you for your service and your heart for our kids and our school. Thank you for believing what you are doing is impacting more than floors and walls. It’s impacting students. You matter. You make a difference.

And you, students, we notice you! Yes, you! All of you! Thank you for the choices you made this year. You did homework and studied for tests when you wanted to be outside dribbling the basketball and throwing the football and socializing with friends. You read when you wanted to play video games. You learned long division and how to multiply fractions (we hope). You learned how to study for tests (while draped over 4 barstools bemoaning the downfalls of school and pleading to be homeschooled), but you got the job done. You made it, students. You made it.

And moms and dads … guess what? We caught you, too. Don’t think you didn’t get spotted. Maybe you, most of all. Every morning you were up at the crack, making turkey and ham and PB&J sandwiches and cutting crusts of bread for the sake of your sweet sons and daughters who won’t eat the crusts. You were putting notes in their lunches and sending them off with kisses. And as they walked out the door and stepped on the bus with the bus driver who rarely gets thanked, you wondered if those kids of yours knew how much you love them.

Yep, we caught you. We caught all of you. We caught you sacrificing and serving for them from the moment you rose to the moment your head hit the pillow. Sometimes you wondered if anyone noticed your service and sacrifice.

They did. Good job, everyone. Another successful school year. You did it. They did it. We all did it.

It takes a village. We caught ya. We noticed.

Happy summer everyone.

Thanks for reading.

Love,