A big loss and a pair of ducks.

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Today is the last day of school for our kids. 

A at her Kindergarten promotion ceremony. 

D with his awesome 3rd-grade teacher.

B (in the red shorts) with his group of friends at OOVOTO (Our Own Version Of The Olympics)... Wilmore Elementary's Field Day. 

Normally, this day is met with much excitement and dreams of sleeping in, PJs all day, and getting to stay up later than 8:00 every night. 

This year, it's a day being met with lots of big emotions. Dreams of sleeping in and hot enough to set-up the pool, yes... but also, it's the first big loss for our kids. (and us grown-ups, too.) Next year, to ease the transition overseas, we have decided to homeschool. That way, whatever we start, we can take with us. (Or wait to start until we get there, depending on when we can buy plane tickets.) So our children are not only saying goodbye to Kindergarten, 2nd-grade and 3rd-grade teachers, they are also saying goodbye to school buildings and principals and friends that they only see at school. And for us adult types, this is also the first "good-bye" to Wilmore. A town we only ever planned to live in for 18 months... but have found ourselves settled in for almost 8 years. 

(So if you saw me crying in our local coffee shop this morning, you now know why.)

Yes, we are prepping for new, exciting things... but we are also grieving what is being left behind. Like so many other things in life, this is a "yay-duck, yuck-duck" moment. 

These are our ducks. 


We have many. 


But the ones we use the most are our "yay-duck" and "yuck-duck." 


Because transition can be a paradox... a "pair-of-ducks"... with yay-duck things like a new country, new adventures, new friends, new school... and yuck-duck things like saying goodbye to people you have been in school with since Kindergarten, or leaving teachers that you think are the best teacher ever, or not getting to ride a school bus next year. 

Holding two emotions in a heart at the same time is hard. It's even hard for adults. My go-to coping mechanism is to plan all the things to keep people too busy to feel. And ice cream. Serve the kids all the ice cream. But we are feeling all the things right now. So we need to make space to feel all the things right now. 

Just pray for us, I guess. Jesus knows what it's like to hold paradoxical feelings... "Take this cup from me... but not my will, God... Why have you forsaken me?... Father, forgive them..." So He can meet us in all these big feelings. And if you see us in real life, please help us to celebrate and grieve all at the same time... and maybe take the kids out for ice cream. :) 


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