Mom
Month: September 2021
Together
It was an innocent assignment; written in the curriculum years before the pandemic even began.
Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote a letter to children in 1947 and now it was my child’s turn:
“Write a letter to children in the future describing what life is like today for your family.”
She began with the simple facts: her age, family and hometown.
But by the second paragraph, my nine-year-old froze.
Covid-19. Living during a pandemic.
And just like that- it was all too much to bear.
It’s one thing to survive on a daily basis.
It’s another to face it in words.
The fear, the masks, the social distancing.
“Mommy, I don’t want to do this.” She cried.
I held her, told her to take a break and later said,
“We’ll do it together.”
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that we cannot do it alone.
We do it together.
Moving Beyond The Page, Epiphany Curriculum
Change
I can feel it in the air.
Can you?
Change is a-coming.
Tonight, one of my daughters wondered aloud how it could be so dark when it was “only 7 o’clock.”
It seems like yesterday that it was light at nine.
And yet, here we are.
The constant we can always rely on:
Change.
Just as we adjust.
As soon as we settle in.
Change comes in like a thief and reminds us that if there were ever a thing to depend on it was her all along.
Change.
I can feel it in the air.
Can you?
Get Back Up
Ever feel like it’s too much?
Do you feel like you’re not enough
When you feel like it’s gonna take forever?
Yeah, I swear I know what it’s like
To feel alone at the end of the night
Maybe you don’t know it, but it gets better
It’s gonna be alright
I’m never gonna leave your side
It’s gonna be alright
Everybody falls down, all the way down
You just gotta hold on tight
You gotta get up, gotta get up
Gonna make it through this time
-“Falls” by Odesza
Recently, our family has faced some very trying challenges, leaving my husband and I to throw our hands up and wonder how we can possibly get back up and keep going.
It’s been a minute since I’ve ridden my Peloton bike but today, motivated by a friend, I got back on. When this song played, I burst into tears and rode through them, letting the music and lyrics wash over me and plant its wisdom deep within my soul.
Feeling like an outsider?
It’s gonna be alright.
Feeling overwhelmed?
You just gotta hold on tight.
Feel like giving up?
You gotta get up because you’re going to make it through this time.
Mr. Adler
“It never occurred to me until writing this essay that “normal” father-daughter relationships do not develop over talking in a restaurant.”
And herein lies the value of Language Arts.
It makes me wonder- were others lucky enough to have a teacher challenge them with the hard questions?
What happened to you?
Where is important to you?
Why do you write?
I attended an all-girls boarding school, whereupon 70% of the faculty, including my Language Arts teacher and his wife, lived on campus.
It was late, after dinner, when I witnessed him reading my very personal essay. It was both terrifying and exhilarating to speak my truth.
“My second chance lives with my future children,” I wrote “and their relationship with me and their father. I can use the lessons that I have learned from my family situation as a guide to how I will choose to live mine. For now, I will continue to meet my father on the corner of Shirley and Colley Ave. for some beef with broccoli and a two hour talk about how my life is going.”
I was seventeen.
And 21 years later, that’s exactly what I do.
I use the lessons I learn, through writing, to choose how I live mine.
New Leaf Parenting 