The hinges are leaving...

So yesterday after school, I walked up to my old junior high to talk to some teachers, but especially to Mr. Wagner, who'd taught my Algebra I and Geometry classes there, and who is still one of my favorite teachers. His room was locked, but they'd just had a fire drill and so I figured that he'd be coming back. So while I was waiting, I found my PAL teacher and talked to him. In casual discussion, he brought up that a lot of teachers were leaving this year. So of course I asked who, and in a calm, completely-not-aware-of-what-he-was-telling-me voice, he said that Mr. Wagner was leaving.

WHAT?!

I had to hear it from Mr. Wagner himself. I said goodbye to my PAL teacher and walked back over to Mr. Wagner's room.

The door was open and the lights were on, so I walked right in. "You're leaving?" was the first thing I said to him, I think, before I gave him a giant hug. I think he understood that he wasn't allowed to leave, not just yet. I had a nice long talk with him, though -- I was there for just under an hour! -- and I can't say I found anything wrong with his reasons for going. Turns out he's moving to Washington to be closer to his family, and that he's been offered a position teaching precalc and calculus at a high school there.

Still, it's sad to know that now, if I want to see him, I'll have to take a plane. My friends and I (the ones who had him for two years straight) are planning on making a sort of scrapbook for him to take with him when he leaves. But nothing can replace Mr. Wagner.

Then again, it does give me a reason to be happy when visiting Washington...

Mr. Wagner, I will never forget you.