YESTERDAY...

i told the kids that i was leaving. they cried, then i cried and we proceeded to do that for a half hour. we held each other, they asked a few questions indicating that they didn't quite understand why i had to go... and then i went and got a dustpan and cleaned up my heart that had shattered into 800 million pieces.

these kids are my best friends out here. we have good times... no correction... GREAT TIMES... there are times i wanted to strangle them... times they probably wanted to strangle me. we laughed every single day. we had serious talks sometimes. and at the end of the day we snuggled up to a good book.

it's not like i will NEVER see them again. i told them i still wanted to be a part of their lives, have sleepovers with them, take them to movies, come to their games and such... and all of this is true. but leaving is still very very hard and this conversation was just the beginning of the ache.