dear friends a letter from our head of school
in attendance feel (translation: a combination of tears and smiles.)
“SwimngtoheOtherSide” We are living ‘neath the great big dipper We are washed by the very same rain We are swimming in this stream together Some in power and some in pain We can worship this ground we walk on Cherishing the beings that we live beside Loving spirits will live forever We’re all swimming to the other side (Pat Humphries)
I shared (sang?!) the chorus of “Swimming to the Other Side”— the lyrics of which I’ve included above—recently with my 3rd Grade neighbors as part of their “You Should Listen To This” project near the end of May, when Lower School Music Teacher Jane Rinard invited her students and colleagues to share a favorite song, to reflect on the role music plays in their (our) lives, and to explain what makes the shared song special. I’ve since received recommendaamong friends: summer 2022
tions (from reliable sources) of versions by Magpie and Emma’s Revolution—and the families and friends in attendance at the 2022 SFFS Graduation Choir serenaded our 8th-Graders in a heartfelt rendition on June 8. But I first heard “Swimming to the Other Side” at Carolina Friends School. It became part of a closing ritual for Lower-Schoolers who loved to sing it because of the way it made them feel—and because they liked the way it made their family members
Music creates that kind of space for me. I described it to my 3rd Grade Friends as a “holding space,” a space in which I can hold feelings of sadness, joy, loneliness, togetherness, and everything in between. I listened to my children and their friends and countless students rehearse and perform the song, and before long I noticed I was singing with them. And feeling with them. Much like I am today. I feel some of the sadness that accompanies saying “Good-bye for now” as I prepare to leave a place where I have felt—where so many of you have made me feel—so much at home. I think about the sadness, even grieving, as both about loss and about remembering, sealing in my heart and memory as much as I can. I prepare to move on and into the next chapter of life with more to feel grateful for than I have words to convey. But nothing more than the spirit of togetherness—team— that I have experienced at SFFS with students, trustees, faculty and
