I never thought of that before
It's been a strange few days.
My other half finished working at a local infant school on Friday. The end of nearly twelve years as “the lady in the office” – and apparently a huge figure in the childhood of hundreds of small children along the way. We've kind of gotten used to not being able to walk through town without somebody saying hello. She came home with armfuls of flowers, bottles of fizzy wine, and cards from staff, parents, and children.
Later in the evening she went out for a meal with the school staff, and I wandered along towards the end of the evening – not quite knowing what I might be walking into. I'm not quite sure how teachers do it, but they have a way about them – particularly infant school teachers. There's a calmness. A kindness. It's hard to put your finger on. They are without exception quite wonderful people, and I'm going to miss them tremendously – even though I only knew a few of them.
Promises were of course made at the end of the evening – to keep in touch – and to meet as friends rather than colleagues. It's funny how that works. My other half did wonderfully well until the headteacher said goodnight – then suddenly the tears arrived – for both of them.
The new job starts on Monday, and no doubt dinner times over the weeks ahead will be filled with stories of new characters, new situations, and new challenges. We're kind of looking forward to it – albeit somewhat apprehensively.
Today we've been pottering around the house – or at least we were until some good friend invited us to the pub for a drink. I often remark how lucky we are to have such good friends – and they now joke with me for saying it. Today in the middle of a pub garden on perhaps the last warm afternoon of the year they all sang out in unison “we love you Mr Beckett” (apparently I had told them I loved them all after the birthday party last week). I think they love how much of a colossal nerd I am, really – and that I seemed oblivious to the fact that I was at the pub with five women.
I've always found other people interesting. I could listen to other people's stories all day (and all night, it often turns out – I've somehow become the person people talk to during struggles). I always remember standing on a railway platform with my eldest daughter in London when she was young, and pointing at the sea of people on the opposite platform...
“Look at each of those people. They all have their own hopes, dreams, and worries. They're all perhaps looking forward to where they are going, or missing somebody, or have parents somewhere worrying about them, or children they're looking forward to seeing”.
She looked at the sea of faces, and held my hand.
“I never thought of that before.”