“Great is the art of beginning but greater is the art of ending.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
About this time last year, Susie Theule, our Visionary Director, wrote in our Bear Necessities an encouraging note as we approached the end of the school year. We thought it was timely to share it today as some of us are most likely experiencing the same thing now that June is only a couple of weeks away.
I am tired, and I am certain I am not alone! Family life, managing work & play, co-educating, keeping up with the daily demands of life – together they are exhausting, even when we integrate all the things we are “supposed” to do to live a balanced life, keep stress down and enjoy the moments that keep us going.
As the end of the school year quickly approaches, I find myself tempted to skimp a little on home days, to hand off the reading to my son rather than read with him, to succumb to a “well, we’re just not going to get to that” attitude a little too easily, to start giving in to my tiredness. Summer is calling, and it is inviting me to slow down and rest a bit.
Let me encourage you, and remind myself, to keep at it. Find those moments to rest (I have been caught on my bed in a short-lived napping stupor a few times of late), but then keep putting one foot in front of the other, doing your best to finish what you have started. Our kids will largely be the ones who benefit from an engaged parent, a full educational experience, and the modeling of you finishing what you have started and finishing well.
We benefit also, as the greatest sense of satisfaction comes when we know that we dared greatly this year and did that all the way to the finish line. We will be able to look back on the year, not as one of perfection, but as a full and completed adventure, and then, then we can move on to summer, adjusting our lives to integrate more of that rest (or at least change of pace) we so long for.
Let’s stay in it together, one step at a time.
We hope this encourages you to keep on keeping on! The finish line is almost there but not quite. And yes, you can do it!! Let’s make the most of these last few weeks of school together, shall we?
