Just Us

(If I could be with you face to face,  I would grab you by the shoulders and speak these words.) Dearest Teacher............ You are sure great. The work you are doing is valuable and immeasurably good. When the questions came and the doubts were cast, You kept going.  With a mask or without a mask, You have showed up for your students. Online or in person, You were prepared and poured out excitement for learning  Whether you felt it or not. Years have passed. So many days, so many challenges. Criticism and encouragement, And you are exhausted. Covering more classes and dodging sickness. Encouraging words, I know  fall short. More self care or a hot bath, Is not the solution nor will sustain you to keep going. Even the "just do it for the kids" feels like a another pour From an empty cup. Do you wonder if your cup has a bottom Or are you drowning in the positivity you hear. You are sure great. Just words. But I'm going to keep speaking their truth-- You are sure grea...

With a tight grip on the bench, I watch The same bench I melted into this spring, Now warm beneath my sitting. It is time. Time to get back in. Forcing my feet to stand I am not without thanks. Exhaustion renewed by summer months spent Sidelined. Deep breaths and joy for the hope of a fresh start But belly breathing not sufficient to settle the nerves Nerves that make my walking back from the sideline More like marathon legs being told to follow one after another. I don't love this game. This tournament of sorts we've been playing for a few years now One game after another Ever changing opponents threatening a loss of some kind. Heartbreaking loss. Unfair calls and mid game rule change. Very few substitutions. But here we go. It's game time. Little faces are watching from the bleachers. Cheering on their favorites, The underdogs. Eyes peeled. Watching for role models of resilience, strength and character. Our cheerleaders, part of this team. Bless their little hearts. Compl...

There are so many thoughts I have as this school year comes to an end and I have been praying about the right words for all the feels, the frustrations, the relief, the continued anxiety, the pure exhaustion. So in honor of teacher appreciation week—here’s a short letter to all my fellow teachers that have persevered through an unprecedented time in education. ———————————— Dearest Teacher, Spray and wipe, wipe and spray. Stop for just a second. If I could be with you in person to say this, I would grab your worn hands and look you right in your tired eyes.  You have made it. You made it. There were days you were fully convinced you were not cut out for what would lie ahead in the 2020-2021 school year, but you actually made it. The school year is almost ready to tie up into a nice little bow and you will actually be able to say: It is finished.  If no one has told you lately—-I am SO freakin proud of YOU. Sincerely. You showed up each day whether in person, online, both or fli...

Social media the past several weeks has been absolutely exhausting.  Scrolling through facebook or the news, literally has made me want to chuck my phone across the room OR just sit and weep in total disbelief.  Why do I even get on it?  To be completely honest, I have felt nudged to delete in all together.  Honest.  However, at this time my sweet friend and I are leading a group of ladies in an online book study on prayer...which has been the opposite of my newsfeed.  PRAISE BE! Because of the wonderful accountability and encouragement I have found right now in this online group, I have remained connected. For now. And so I'm writing today, thinking maybe I will be brave enough to move this one from drafts to published.  This post is especially for my friends that believe in God and are seeking to follow Him, even if we often drag our feet or stray back and forth in zig-zag lines trying to.  But also for my friends that maybe don’t identify with ...

We are always waiting. Waiting for the next best thing. Waiting for the current circumstances to diminish for some much needed relief. Waiting for things to change so we can finally be "happy." Do you feel the wait? Do you sense the pause of our world right now, Waiting for something better, something we HOPE is coming? Do you feel it maybe a little extra this Christmas season? I do. The anticipation of HOPE building as wars rage around us. A silent enemy threatening the collapse of our healthcare systems A war of political opinions justifying and villainizing   The typing of a keyboard spewing hatred to strangers that disagree The war of wearing a cloth face covering or to not. A war of our words. But HOPE. It hints and glimpses a flicker in the lit candle as 2020 comes to a close, A light cutting into the darkness A pause, a mere breath in time  HOPE as a tiny light shines. And we wait and we wonder, Is this HOPE coming in the form of a needle and antibodies Or in a pol...

Everywhere we look there seems to be opinions and arguments dividing.  Friends that once met together over coffee now disagreeing on social media.  Distance.  Separation.  Not only the distance created by social distancing in efforts to minimize the spread of this terrible virus.  But friends and family creating distance between one another because of the strong stance they have taken on mask wearing, religion, politics, etc.  This side or that side.  You are wrong...I am right.  How can you possibly believe that?  All of this confusion, misinformation and division seems to be limiting our ability to really SEE each other and to show empathy.  We squint our eyes so that only our own perspective is in view.  We tune out another story or perspective if it doesn't fit into the lense we want to use to categorize our world right now. Empathy. The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. So can we possibly push back agains...

*******I am writing from my own personal perspective.  I do not claim to be representing all teachers during this time. We all have had different experiences navigating education during a global pandemic. Some are struggling through far worse and some have been impacted very little.  As always, I write for my own processing and with hope of being an encouragement to someone else to keep fighting the good fight.   Be honest with yourself and others. Teaching is a different kind of hard right now.  It's okay if you're not okay.********* I have had this experience lately that has really started to bother me.  I am usually out walking or at the store getting groceries and I run into someone I haven't seen much since school has started.  They see me and immediately ask, "How are you? How's school?"  Their care and concern is obvious, as is the sweet kindness they are showing, knowing full well school must be a little different right now.  Their questio...