this business of love

The children are in, and it changes everything. The school is once again a living organism. I pace around it gathering paperwork which I am intending to do a slash and burn job on*. Haley is standing in the corridor, sniffing and looking red around the eyes. Saul is doing the ritalin twitch outside his classroom. As I pass both of them I am filled with the almost irresistable urge to grab hold of them and hug them, kiss them, even. Welcome back, I want to say - Welcome back: I've missed you.


*I fail at this rather miserably and instead produce at least half as much paper again, which at least proves I'm a proper educationalist.