R – My Spring concerts were held last week and I must confess that as happy as I am with how they went and what the kids did, I am profoundly grateful that they are over. I feel somewhat the same as I do at the end of each season in New England, “Okay, that was great, but let’s move on.” My favorite season is the Fall but I can’t wait for the first snowfall or Christmas and December and everything that comes with it. Yet two months later I’m dying for Spring. And how great is it to finally open up the windows a bit and let the fresh air in! But it’s only a short matter of time before I’m holding out for temperatures in the 80’s and weather nice enough to spend a day at the beach. And yet, you KNOW that by the time I hit September, I can’t wait for sweatshirts and turning leaves.

And you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way and neither would you. And that’s the beauty of the school year to me. It has its own set of seasons. But now it is time to go through a season of recharging and removing the brain from school activities for awhile. I feel guilty to a degree that I’m happy to have my Spring concerts over with. But that season has ended and that was great, but let’s move on.

Reflecting on this year now closing, the best we can ever do is to simply drop those apple seeds for 10 months and then hope and pray that some of them took root. Just knowing that we attempted this is our reward. Looking back on this school year of successes and failures, happiness and disappointments, progress and regression, highs and lows, we know that next Fall we will go on that journey again. And that’s a good thing. It is a blank canvas ready to be painted. I was having supper with a couple of alumni of mine earlier this week and we were talking about broadway shows and I mentioned that one of my very favorites is Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday In The Park With George, based loosely on the work of George Seurat. The closing song is in fact called “Moving On” and I think the lyrics are appropriate for teachers everywhere as they reflect on the school year just passed and the new one beckoning ahead. In that spirit, I hope you have a peaceful and relaxing Summer.

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Stop worrying where you’re going, move on
If you can know where you’re going, you’ve gone
Just keep moving on.
I chose, and my world was shaken–so what?
The choice may have been mistaken
but choosing was not.
You have to move on.
Look at what you want,
Not at where you are,
Not at what you’ll be.
Look at all the things you’ve done for me:
Opened up my eyes
Taught me how to see
Notice every tree!
Understand the light!
Concentrate on now!
I want to move on . . .
I want to explore the light.
I want to know how to get through
through to something new–
Something of my own!
Move on!
Move on!
Stop worrying if your vision is new.
Let others make that decision . . .
they usually do!
You keep moving on.
Look at what you want,
Not at what you are
Not at what you’ll be
Look at all the things you gave to me.
Just keep moving on.
Anything you do, let it come from you–
then it will be new.
Give us more to see.