Who are you?

I thought I’d start NaBloPoMo (on the fourth day) with a little intro post. My About page is… playful? Fun? Annoying? Definitely not helpful. So if some new people are going to stop by this month, I might as well let them know who I am.

And I just can’t get the caterpillar from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland out of my head. So I’m adding him too.

So who am I?

I’m a 43 year old middle school Spanish teacher. I live in San Francisco (the super expensive doom loop city!) with my husband (of 15 years this winter!), my 13-year-old daughter and my 10-year-old son. Oh, and my two kitten cats (they just turned one this summer) and a bearded dragon. We have a house on the south (aka more affordable) side of the city, that we “bought” (feels weird to say that when it’s not even half paid off) 11 years ago. We had to rent out our in-law unit to pay our mortgage for a while, but after a $20K buy out we get to walk behind our car to our bedroom! Four years later and it’s still glorious to have two bathrooms, for real for real.

I am around middle schoolers ALL DAY so I sometimes talk like them. No cap.

Who else am I? I have ADHD, which I treat with a Ritilin-equivalent. I was on anti-depressants for over 10 years before my ADHD diagnosis and none of them worked and I’m SO THANKFUL for ADHD medication. It saved me.

I started blogging 15 years ago when I was trying to get pregnant and processing my ectopic pregnancy. I found an incredible online community around that and wrote copious amounts of words a week on my previous blog. I closed shop there a while back and briefly tried posting under my real name, but shut that down pretty quickly. I’ve been writing anonymously again in this space for close to a decade. I don’t post photos of myself or my family here, and I’m not on social media (at all) because I’m terrified of my students finding me and making me miserable. Also social media is not my friend. Or even my frenemy. The fear is real and I will never overcome it.

But blogging was my literal world for several years there. When that community of ALI (Adoption, Loss, Infertility) bloggers slowly fell away (as people just stopped writing after they completed their families with our without children), I was left with a rather sizeable hole (gaping felt like a strong word to use in an intro, but it’s appropriate).

I’ve kind of stumbled along here despite never really finding that community again. I think part of why I’m excited to participate in NaBloPoMo this year is I love the idea of finding some of that online comradery again.

We shall see…

Sorry I’m ping ponging all over the place. Turns out it’s hard to pin down who I am…

I have lived in SF for over 20 years. Before that I was at UC Berkeley and before that at my parents’ house on the peninsula (near where I now work). I spent seven-ish years in Hong Kong as a kid, when I was very young and then from 2nd to 7th grade. I really loved living in Hong Kong and thrived on the independence I was allowed there. I had a hard time in middle school when I got back. 7th and 8th grade were truly some of the worst years of my life. I find it kind of hilarious that I ended up there in perpetuity.

But I love my job. I really do. My native language is not Spanish, but I fell into this job 20 (!!) years ago and am so grateful I did. I get to fly under a lot of the radars that regularly force public school teachers out of the classroom, and I get to flex my creativity when I have the time and energy to do so. I’ve built a really popular program that exploded this past year and I’m learning what “be careful what you wish for” really means. But I don’t regret it. At least, I don’t want to.

I work out a fair amount. Right now I run and strength train and practice martial arts. I’m a blue belt at a dojo that blends karate and tae kwan do. I also run for run because how can you not when the weather is beautiful all year round. I swam competitively in high school but destroyed my shoulder and stopped (I was never very good – I swam mostly for the friends, and the endorphins). I cycled a lot with my parents in my 20s and have ridden several centuries. I love to run and have completed one marathon and several half marathons. I also dabbled in rock climbing for several years. Basically I love to move my body and feel strong, and exercise is my number one go-to for mental health management.

My relationship with San Francisco can be complicated. I love this city, but it can be really hard to raise a family here. Especially on the salaries of a public middle school teacher and a city employee. We’re both pretty high on our salary schedules, but it never seems to be enough. We live in a pretty modest house, and only have one car, but we’re also in one of the most expensive areas in the US. We’re lucky we got into our house when we did. We plan to leave when we’re wheeled to assisted living (if we make it that long). Our kids go to public schools in the city, and even though the district can drive me all kinds of crazy, I believe strongly in public education and that is where we intend to keep them.

My husband works for the city, where he was born and raised. You don’t meet a lot of born-and-raised San Franciscans who still live here. He’s a unicorn. He loves the city. His job is centered around trying to improve it. It can be demoralizing to attempt to do that. But he always knows what is happening and we really do take advantage of our urban lifestyle. We go to museums and music events regularly. Our kids are learning to get around by themselves on the buses and trains they take with us every day. I love this life for them, and I’m glad we’re lucky enough to be living it.

I have to stop now, and I’m sure there are things I’ll be shocked I forgot to mention, but I’ll feel those feelings when it they hit. Because right now I need to schedule this, shower, and start some laundry.

This is how excited I am about NaBloPoMo. I hope you’re more excited to be here than my cats. 😀