The Sweetest Goodbye

“Bye Princely!! Bye Princely!!” the kids in the New Life yard shouted at us as we began for home.

I turned around and addressed them with a subtle yet unnecessarily cutting tone, “bye!”

Princely looked at me a sadly, gently, and just barely accusingly. “They say it for you, you know. They’re saying goodbye to me, but it’s for you. They just don’t remember your name.”

I contemplated the idea, not sure if I believed him. It’s true, I had never taught the kids who were in the yard at that point. They were grade 3 and 4, and I had worked mostly with grades 1 and 2, Joy, secondary school and high school. But didn’t they know how badly I wanted to know them?? Suddenly from behind me I heard, “Your name, Madame?”

I turned to see a Grade 4 student smiling at us, shielding the setting sun from his eyes. Without meaning to I beamed. “ALYSSA!” I shouted back.

“Oh. Okay. Good night!”

Princely and I laughed in wordless commendation of accurate thinking. The bounce in my step lasted until we reached home forty minutes later.