My Promise to This Year’s Teachers

Michaela Mitchell Elementary School

But there are things I'll be thinking, things I wish I was brave enough to say out loud, to help them understand the package deal of their new student and said student's mother.

Engulfed

Kathrena Rivera Elementary School

I’m at that place: my youngest does not need me quite as much as he used to. Of course all my children “need” me, but not in that visceral and primal way anymore. 

The One Thing I Promised

Alyssa Pera Elementary School

“I don’t want to go,” she says, barely above a whisper. “What if I come in last?” I feel the pit forming in my stomach, the same one I know she feels.

Magic in a Summer Night

Elizabeth Thompson Elementary School

The whole world is a kid again, if only for a time. For an extra hour, maybe two, we revel in the lingering daylight, wrapping ourselves in the friendly dark that slowly puts the day to sleep. And in those hours, anything is possible.