A funny thing happened on the way to my blog post.
I was going to write about making solar prints, a fun family activity and something I used to love doing as a kid. But I have to write instead about Rosa’s preschool, which is a place that I’ve poured my heart and time into for the last twelve months as the Board President. Wednesday was Rosa’s last day at the school, and I’ve been feeling alternately proud of her as a student and a bit weepy that she’s growing up so fast. And weepy, too, to say goodbye to her teacher Lolly (at least as a daily part of our lives) and the amazing classroom Rosa played in every day.
Pine Grove is a lovely, sweet little school; it’s the kind of school that seems like it barely exists anymore. (Or maybe never did exist quite like this anywhere else). In Rosa’s classroom, she could put on a pair of goggles and pound away with a real hammer and nails as much as she wanted. She could saw wood with real, honest-to-goodness saws. Find that hard to believe? See for yourself:

Sometimes they got to use a power drill or the sewing machine. Sometimes they folded paper airplanes and spent two hours throwing them around the room.
Because that’s how Pine Grove rolls.
Rosa’s teacher Lolly is, I am certain, that one extraordinary teacher whom Rosa will remember for the rest of her life. I think Lolly is extraordinary too. For one thing, she spends all year making notes about each of the kids in her class and takes photos of them. At the end of the year, she puts it all together in portfolios for the parents as a keepsake. Mind you, this is not state or school-mandated. It’s just something she does.
So, I now own pages and pages of notes about Rosa and her behavior and her skills and her likes and strengths that I can cherish for many many years:

She also gave each family a little photo album and a CD filled with pictures of our kids. I can’t even express what treasures all of these things are.
On the last day of school, Lolly gave me a few special, thoughtful gifts that touched me so much, including some really amazing notecards, using photos of both of my daughters. Each one of the cards in the entire set has a different photo on the front:

And then she and the two other teachers surprised me with several potted flowers that they left on my porch that morning. (You’re ignoring the chipping paint on my stairs, right?)

Lordy, I hope I don’t kill them. Sometimes I do well with gardening, sometimes I am ten black thumbs. Don’t ask what happened to my dad’s jade plant. Oy.
But I digress.
Fortunately, Lolly lives only a few blocks away from us, so we hope to keep seeing her as much as we can. Plus, I agreed to be the Alumni representative to the Board next year, so I’ve got another year’s worth of board meetings. I guess I wasn’t ready to let go.
I have to mention (show you) one last thing that my fellow board members presented me with on the last day of school, on behalf of the school:

Can you see all around the edge are little pictures of all the children at the school?
I think I am pretty lucky.
Happy weekend to everyone. Here’s to hoping it’s warm and sunny.
*
Nature’s first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Robert Frost.
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