12 Years. It's Been 12 Years. Doesn't Seem Possible, but 12 Years Later, It's Been. The Last Moonbeam Shine.

Mr. Moonbeam and his Moonbeams did their last dance with All Stars and Fireflies in 2007. The graduating class that year was one of the best and he'd bring them down to first floor corner of Muhammed Ali and First Street to read books, do art, play games and sing songs.

Twelve years later, those All Stars and Fire Flies grew up to be Moonbeams, themselves - the J. Graham Brown School Senior Class of 2019.

Such growth was not on Mr. Moonbeam's radar when he left, but Alice reminded him the other day via text. I suppose I thought time would sit still and nothing would move, shift or alter upon leaving.
Ah, but that is beyond foolish. Everything lives. Everything changes. Everything evolves.

It has me thinking, however, about changes that have occurred since leaving and all that has resulted because I did.

• 4 beautiful years in Syracuse while earning a doctorate, 
• a tiny little ranch home on Eastman in Cicero,
• more family time,
• a Directorship of a National Writing Project site,
• 12 years of having the privilege of working with k-12, refugee and teaching communities,
• the purchase of the big o' yellow home on Mt. Pleasant,
• the invention of Mt. Pleasants,
• Glamis the Wonderdog,
• publications,
• travel to many locations, 
• speaking engagements,
• meeting and interacting with brilliant Young Adult authors,
• a kayak on the Long Island sound,
• seeing the Long Island sound every day, 
• proximity to my cousin in Amagansett and the Hoops4Hope work,
• the boys, especially Chitunga, 
• and less humidity and swamp air in the summer

Phew! Not a day goes by when I don't think of the joy that the Brown School delivered to me - I will always see it as a spark to life and an inspiration. At this point, I've spent just as many years beyond teaching at the school and spreading its joy to everyone I meet in the northeast and across the nation.

And writing to the Class of 2007 and letting them know (by the way) that their All Stars and Fireflies are now Moonbeams put all of it into perspective.