bharrington's Xanga Site

September 13, 2005

The Daily News

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us...
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

1 Oh, my.

Blue sky, sunshine, what a day to take a walk in the park,
ice cream, daydream, 'til the sky becomes a blanket of stars...
what a day for pickin' daisies,
and lots of red balloons
and what a day for thinkin' right out loud
I love you!

---Spanky and Our Gang, Lazy Day

2 What a day, indeed.

3 Who knew?

4 The other night, I went to a going-away party for I think all 300-plus members of the Class of '05 of Yerba Buena High School. It was simply a final send-off to an utterly amazing group of kids.

5 When I became the class advisor several years ago, I knew precisely what it was I was getting into. The year previous, I had already met and advised a goodly amount of them, feeling always that I had somehow walked into a magical world of Disney characters walking innocently through purple balloons. I thought they were the sweetest group of kids I had ever met...

6 It wasn't long before I was invited to be their advisor, and almost instantly, a bond happened, and I knew that I was, perhaps, what Mr.Worden deemed "the luckiest guy in the world." Well, I wouldn't go THAT far, but I knew that I would be darned close for at least three years...

7 Have you ever been involved in something that you just feel was almost too good to be true? Every single day that I would work with those kids, I felt that it would be really easy to plan for every single day to be the best day in life. Every single day I looked forward to yet another sweet and wonderful day filled with joy and pure love, laughs and hugs. They were THAT good. They still are.

8 Through thick and thin, there was a remarkable bond. We spent hours upon hours planning, living, holding onto one another when tragedies would happen, and laughing and hugging when the good times would happen, and man, let me tell you, they would happen, more than anyone could ever imagine!

9 The other night, we again all gathered, as we always have, and laughed and enjoyed the "stuff in life". That night was probably the final gathering to what seems to me like the Longest Good-bye in the History of the World.

10 The challenge I always had was that the entire time I traveled with this group, I knew that it was finite. I knew that at some point, it all had to change, and that every single moment spent should never be taken for granted. I've lived long enough to know a good thing when I would see it, and these guys were definitely a good thing. But I'm guessing I've said this before, so let's move on...

11 The day has finally arrived. They are on day one of officially blasting off into the world and making it a vastly better place. Today. Tuesday. Oh, we already had a few take off, just to give my heart a nudge. Sunshine took off to Georgia for basic training in late July. We drove around until 2:30 in the morning, talking, and speaking of things that matter.

12 And just last week, Loan visited, just before she left for San Luis Obispo. She instantly came up and gave me a huge hug, and we both almost lost it. Both times I fought tears, but felt their emotions deeply. They were two of the very best, and they almost slipped out undetected, but both had spiritual good-byes with me before they left.

13 And that was just TWO of them.

14 The other night, it was suddenly everyone else, gathered at the home of their amazing prez, Thuy Ann. As always, she pulled together a huge gathering, and ran all around her house making certain that everyone was enjoying every last minute, moving from group to group with her usual grace and fun style.

15 Thuy Ann left for UCSD today. I never got to get over to say a final good-bye yesterday. The brakes in my truck made it too dangerous to drive, so I never went over to her house. We said our good-byes probably beginning in January anyway, but fortunately, we did get in one as the party was dying down. I don't really even remember what we said in the end, but it might have been what we didn't say that was more important anyway. Thuy Ann was and is a remarkable president, a dazzlingly amazing leader, and more importantly, a wonderful friend.

16 Tomorrow Trami leaves. And this will continue all the way until around the 25th of the month, when the UC Davis kids finally move off.

17 For me, I'm exhausted, never expected THAT many good-byes in my entire life! I feel that I shared deep moments with each of these kids, and that each one was one of the most special people I have ever met.

18 That class was like that. Everybody tended to be special to everybody, and now that they're all beginning to go, it's a swirling flurry of emotions, but now that it's finally set in motion, it quite winds up the world's gain.

19 So Thuy Ann, and the rest of all of you, godspeed, best wishes, and make us all proud.

20 The world needs you right now a lot more than we do.

21 In the end, it's right.

22 Good-bye, for now...

23 Peace.