To love is to let go

That's what I have learned over the years anyway. But in the case of being a teacher and having the same class for three years it must be incredibly difficult to let go. Last week my oldest daughter Annalena graduated from sixth grade. A bit of a special moment, where you realise your little girl is no longer a little girl.  She has had the most wonderful teacher a child could wish for or a parent could wish for his/her child. His name is Gunnar Albinsson.  A teacher who always saw the possibilities in a child, the positive and always worked to bring out the best in every child. And he was good at it as well. A teacher with humor but who could also be strict when needed. And his class followed his every lead. He always said they were the most wonderful bunch of kids. It even came to be that he put his class to work and was about to do some work of his own which included cutting paper with scissors, but he actually was afraid to use the scissors because it made to much noise and it would disturb his students in their work, so he just didn't.  I guess this has been an ideal combination of teacher and class. And my daughter was fortunate enough to end up in this class when we moved to this country, this village.
Now my not so little anymore daughter is going yet another step further, going to school in the city next year. So even for me it's time to let go a little more. But thanks to this wonderful teacher I feel confident that she'll manage.
A teacher like that needs to be given a special goodbye present, so me and the other classmom juggled a little with ideas and we came to a combination of both his passions. He liked playing golf, and was intending to do much more of that after retirement and he has a passion for beer, not the kind you drink on festivals, but real beer. So we got him a giftcard to Oppigårds brewery, one of the absolut best breweries around, where he can have dinner and a tour through the brewery and taste the beers they brew. The link to his golfpassion was done in an entirely different manner. I was provided with a wooden plank, took my woodburners, went to school and asked all the kids in his class to write their name with a pencil and then burn it into the plank. After that I searched for some pictures of golfers to use to burn into the plank as well and a picture of a golf course. I set to work and this was the end result.

But I wasn't finished. My daughter had asked already a while ago if i couldn't make an Angel for her as a present just from her to her teacher. Of course I could not refuse that request. She set out to find out what his favorite colors were and  I made the Angel she wanted.  

In the days running up to the yearclosing ceremony we noticed the tension in our daughter was growing, up to the point where she finally burst into tears. The idea of her class being torn apart and having to say goodbye to so many of her friends and her teacher was too much for her at that point. She knows it's a part of life, letting go, saying goodbye and she had done it before, but that doesn't make it easier.

                                                                                                       

Finally the day came and a beautiful ceremony it was in the church, They sang beautifully and finally got their certificates. I was taking pictures and looking through my lense it was like I was looking in the mirror, only 30 years back in time. Zooming in on her face,  I was shocked to see how much my Annalena looked like me. One doesn't really pay attention to it in normal daily life, but at that moment in time, zoomed in, it really struck me. 

Mirror to my past.

Afterwards there was this special little goodbye with the flagpole where the kids handed over the presents and a few more pictures were taken. After that it was down to the Hembygdsgården for a picknick with almost the whole class and Gunnar. We were very lucky with the weather and had a very cosy picknick before every said their last goodbyes and went home. 

Summer holidays have started, the time to let go is over, time to look forward to a new future. And thanks to wonderful Gunnar we have full confidence that she will thrive and do well at her new school. 

I just would like to say one thing to Gunnar, something he used to say to Annalena on her development assessment , only he used it in future tense, I'd like to use present tense. 

Gunnar, don't ever stop being who you are, it's the best you could ever be.