Sunday Final

Wait.
There's something in my eye.
No really.
Okay, that's better.
So today, we let the prisoners out from jail.
Wait.
Lemme get a kleenex.
It was pending rain all day; I walked around a bit and got caught up in some of it but as it neared the afternoon it got down right ugly.
The skies were really dark and it looked like it was going to pour.
So two hours before the ceremony was supposed to start, they moved it all into the gym:

Freakin impressive!
Chapeau to all the made the last minute changes!
We ended up starting an hour or so late, but I think it was worth it.
The Seniors:

The ones I could fit in the frame anyways.
I was expecting outside and only had my long lens; I should have gone back home and grabbed a wide angle.
Anyways, I think it's around this time, when they're just about ready to leave, when it finally hits them, you know, all this school stuff.
They start to act like one class and you can see the pride they have come out.
A couple of the class speakers started to break down a bit and that's when I got something in my eyeballs.
Thankfully I was wearing my shades.
I only get them for two years or so, some are lucky to have me for three.
Or maybe not lucky.
I wonder what they'll remember, not so much the photography stuff, but the other stuff I tried to instill in them about what they need to do to succeed outside of school.
They were singing the alma mater and I got something in my eyeballs again:

I think graduation should be mandatory for all teachers too.
This is the time to self reflect: did I do my job?
Are they ready?
Are they prepared?
I hope so and I think so.
I went around a bit after but it was such a madhouse I couldn't find all my students.
As I walked back home, to be honest I didn't know how I felt.
I still don't.
Part of me is sad, another part happy.
Then there's the part that is already anticipating next year.
Aloha Class of 2014!
You entered as students but leave as men and women.
Good luck and godspeed.