My friends and I left the KOA yesterday afternoon. We got one of the girl’s bikes fixed, grabbed some supplies, dipped in the pool, and then hit the road. My daughter was sad to see me go, but she’s doing fine. I send her a picture of her cat and her dragon every day, and that helps. Another mom goes up Wednesday for her daughter’s birthday and the last two nights. They all come home Friday.
Meanwhile my son started karate camp, and Wednesday is my husband’s 40th birthday. His friend and I planned a little “double date” for Saturday, but we aren’t doing much on the actual day. He didn’t do anything besides FaceTime me on my birthday, so there is no pressure for me to reciprocate.
I was realizing that is a big part of why I no longer want much, if any, fanfare on my birthday – I worry that I won’t do as much for others when their special day comes. One of the women in this group celebrated a birthday just last month and I couldn’t even show up to dinner because my daughter and husband were so sick. Then they all got me a cake, and presents, and other stuff on my birthday. I feel awful about that. If there is anything that worries me, it’s being the friend who doesn’t do as much for others as they do for me.
At least I figured out why I was feeling so uncomfortable about all the focus on my birthday. Still, I enjoyed all the attention and spent the day on the lake feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.
I have to admit, it’s so good to be home. Since June 26th I’ve only slept at home seven nights. After 16 months of barely leaving my house, it’s been a lot. And it’s ending at just the right time. The delta variant is changing the game and it’s making me nervous. We’ll be going back to our previous behaviors as soon as my daughter gets home from the KOA – only masked outdoor socializing for my kids and very limited indoor socializing with a small group for us (though probably even most of that will be outdoor – the fall is beautiful in these parts). I cannot wait until my kids can be vaccinated – I hope it happens soon.
I do worry a fair amount about the start of the school year. Everyone has committed to full, five days a week of in person learning, but the situation seems to be changing so rapidly. I worry about what can happen in four weeks, even in an area with high vaccination rates like our own. If we have to go back in distance learning I will lose my mind.
I’ve read quite a few articles about the people who are still dying from this disease and it makes me so depressed. How does one believe in the power of “natural consequences” after hearing stories of people who deny Covid even as it kills them? It’s one thing when someone doesn’t care about how their choices affect faceless strangers, but when they refuse to care about how they affect themselves and their families? I’m not quite sure how to process that. I can only imagine how demoralizing it must be for the health care workers who have to manage the care of those who won’t get vaccinated, even as they refuse to accept what is happening to them.
I wonder how many people lay there dying, and do realize how wrong they were, and wish they had made a different choice. That is heartbreaking to consider.
I’m so grateful that my family in Missouri are vaccinated. They don’t live in the counties that are being hit really hard right now, but numbers are rising everywhere in the state. I hope they can keep their kids safe until the vaccines are approved for children 11 and under.
Now that all our summer fun is over – and we were so lucky to enjoy a lot of travel with family and friends – I’m ready to turn my attention to my house and the upcoming school year. I plan to spend this week doing a big pick up around the house (I would love to call it a purge, but I doubt I’ll get that far – I just want EVERY surface clear and every random object to have a designated place). Then next week I will be back down in my classroom for a few precious hours a day to move my stuff and start setting up my new classroom. I’m starting to think about how I want this school year to look – how I teach changed so much in the last year, I need to think long and hard about what I want to keep, what I want to return to, and how both can coexist in a classroom. The obvious place to start is my overarching goals, so I should spend some of the coming weeks to articulate those, before I start thinking about how to incorporate what I learned last year into my in person classroom.
I’m also excited to embrace flexible seating in my new space. I had just started experimenting with before the pandemic hit – I literally got rid of my desks two weeks before shelter in place began! I know there are a lot more rules about seating now, but I’m hoping I can still adopt some nontraditional arrangements. I have a bigger classroom than most, and it already has a lot of furniture that can’t be moved to the newer, smaller staff room, so hopefully that will help. My principal is a very open minded, level headed leader so I know I’ll get as much support as can be provided in our return to full time in person learning.
Only 3.5 weeks until my first staff day. The count down to the end of summer has begun.,
SO glad you were able to go out and about. TOTALLY in agreement with you about the clear need to be returning to more conservative behaviors even though vaccinated….. which I confess I never fully left.
The anti science crew of so many over the past 30 years or more is really coming home to roost. I only wish those who are not eligible and those who are vaccinated were free from 100% of the impact of those whose choices are different.
Deeply interested in how and when your school makes determinations about the “return”. Fingers very crossed for all returning students and staff!