Strange day ahead. Strange days behind. Been a strange time.

Today I will say goodbye to my kids for the year. Our distance model fit a year into a semester, so with the end of semester one, my kids are done with LA for the year. And I will begin another “year” next week with a new group of kids, who’ve not had LA yet this year. Strange.

And it won’t get any less-strange with our hybrid model. Kids will be back in the building but we won’t be back “in school.” Not saying that’s good or bad, but I am saying it’s not school. But that new strange comes next week. I still have today’s strange to face: saying goodbye to kids I hardly know.

Should be easy, then, right? Just bid them farewell and move on, they are strangers after all. No, they aren’t. We’ve shared a strange experience, perhaps the strangest of which is the personal connection I have come to feel towards a name on a black Zoom screen.

“Hi, Connor. Good morning. Do you have a Smile or Frown to share with us today?

“Pass.”

“Okay, Connor. Thank you. I am glad you are here.”

I have often felt like Tom Hanks’ character from Castaway talking to Wilson the volleyball. Strange. But they are not strangers.

They are my kids. And I have tried my “best better” during this time to connect with them. And I have. But it’s not the same. I know it. They know it. We all know it, I suppose.

And, I suppose, it will be something we will always know as we look back on this time and these students who lived through it with us. And in that, I guess, we may find our strongest connection. On some level, I find it similar to my very first class, that group that has a distinction like no other. Our first class. We remember them a bit differently from the rest of our groups. And, now, this group, too, will be remembered a bit differently.

And today, I will let them know that as I say goodbye to my screens my kids, as we “power off” for the final time.

Happy Tuesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.