new year at the end of the year

the new school year rang in. a while ago. somehow, despite leaving a clean and orderly classroom, major gutting and revamping had to be undertaken. perhaps it is because i entered halfway through the last school year and wandered into someone else's space. organized- fairly,  clean - sort of, but mine? not. and having a week to decide how to a handle an 8 by 10 room, one third of it cabinets and counters, it was amazing how much was pulled from the guts of the tiny cupboards to be piled neatly and put back in. quite an undertaking.

but then the year folded in on itself as if the slow swoon and dive of summer never happened. and we are swiftly back to the old ways of the world. and familiarity in this sense was not so bad as 'coming back to work' can sound.

new year, the same old (and dirtier) smock.
making the same old play dough.

and coming back into the evidence of the hands of the very small. and if such honesty and fearlessness is not humbling, then i am at loss with that word.