My last day at St. Columbkille was a whirlwind, to say the least. During Ms. Escobedo’s class, the students were taking a standardized test that all Catholic schools have to administer to their students, so I had two hours to write my thank you note to the staff and figure out which buses to take from St. Columbkille to get to LAX for my flight home. I finished that work just in time, and headed out to recess.
It was wet outside, so the third grade wasn’t allowed to take a ball outside. Basically, the recess consisted of them asking me questions about Spokane and racing each other around the playground, which terrified me because I thought for sure they would wipe out on the wet ground.
I was supposed to supervise third grade’s lunch as usual, but Barrett came in and said I was wanted in the faculty room. When I went in, Ms. Barba, Tyler, and several other teachers said, “hooray!” They had ordered fajitas for the staff in honor of my last day. Ms. Briceno, our principal, gave me a uniform t-shirt and sweatshirt, as well as a Starbucks gift card. I was already overwhelmed, when Ms. McKinney said I should go to her classroom before the end of the day.
When I went to the fourth grade, the students were so excited to see me! They had written thank you notes to me and compiled them into a little book for me to read on the plane. I walked around the room with a U.S. map, showing them where Spokane was and giving hugs. It was pretty tough to leave them.
Leaving third grade was a similar scenario. They had written me thank you notes, and we took a group picture together. Ms. Barba said it was a blessing for her that I was able to be so helpful in the classroom, and I reciprocated. After that goodbye, school was over and I was on my way.
My flight was from Los Angeles to Oakland, then I had a short layover before flying from Oakland to Spokane. On the way out, I caught the sunset from the plane.
Los Angeles has the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.
Onward and Upward 
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