Today is the last day of school for Elliot and Olivia.

Bringing them to school this morning, I could not help but feel nostalgic about my own school days.  The last day of school was always warm and breezy, shorts and T-shirts.  Cheeks were flushed, arms and legs were just starting to get tanned.  The sense of anticipation for the summer was palpable.  Very little actual education happened on the last day of school -- but maybe some games, some movies, some awards presentations.  The last day of school was always a great day.

It also seems to me that the last day of school often held some sort of surprise.  In first grade, I remember learning that Mrs. Luckey was going to have a baby.  In fifth grade, I remember discovering -- with a sense of shock -- that Mrs. Robb was a smoker.  In junior high school, I remember the year that we learned that Mr. Grady wasn't coming back to teach the following year.

Well, today I learned that the student-teacher in Elliot's class is named Jihad.

Of course, I had heard the name plenty of times before -- but always envisioned it spelled as Jiette or Jea-ette (sounding kind of like the name Jeanette without the middle "n").  But it turns out that her name is actually Jihad.  It's an unusual name to begin with -- but it's all the stranger, given the fact that her ethnic background would appear to be Middle-eastern!  Who knows the story behind that name... But it is significant to note that her personality does not in any way resemble an Islamic holy war. :-)  In fact, she's a very sweet, soft-spoken, patient person, as far as I've been able to tell.  But we learned today (from an end-of-the-year letter) that her name is, in fact, Jihad.

Funny, huh?  Seems to be kind of par for the course on the last day of school...