Then and Now

Reality THEN

The above picture was taken before (sing the next part with me!) ...the world turned upside down (who else has watched Hamilton three times since it was released three nights ago? My people!) I wanted to reference Hamilton haha, but in one aspect the world is on its way right-side up, as it always should have been. We have a long way to go, but getting pointed in the right direction is a start. 

I had gotten dressed up in that picture for my husband and I to go on a Valentines/Pi Day/St. Patrick's day date. Yep, you read that right. Ha--the life of having a baby! We meant to go to a fancy restaurant around Valentine's Day, but by the time I made a reservation it ended up being for March 14th. So you can see my necklace is St. Patrick's Day themed (shout out to my mom for the REAL four-leaf clover in a glass heart!) but as a physicist I proudly proclaimed that we were on a date in honor of the important irrational number pi. This might become my new favorite tradition: going on a Pi Day date! Note to self: I need some pi jewelry... Another Note to Self: I use too many parentheses when I write haha. Oh well! That's how I speak!

This picture was taken the day after school was announced to be closed through March. On the afternoon of Friday the Thirteenth, our school district sent a message that school would not resume until April due to the Coronavirus. After school that Friday I immediately went to a grocery store on my way home, because people were already reporting that grocery stores were emptying. I was shocked to see for myself that it was true: the entire toilet paper aisle was empty! I remember taking a picture of the empty aisle and texting it to my family and we were all incredulous.

At the time of that picture, I was certain we would all be back in school after spring break. I wasn't worried about Covid-19, and restaurants were still open! The restaurant was at full capacity with no one wearing masks that night. For my Valentines/Pi/St. Patrick's day present, my husband got me tickets to see the Nashville Ballet in April, and it never crossed my mind that it might be canceled because of the Coronavirus. 

Reality NOW

Friends, I wore makeup and real clothes for my first two Zoom meetings. After that, my colleagues got used to no-make-up, hair-in-a-bun, athleisure-wearing me! I worked from bed, my baby interrupted many Zoom meetings, and I shamelessly muted him with his pacifier when I needed to listen. The new normal! 

People who aren't in education might think we've been "off" since March, but actually the opposite is true! My school pushed back prom (which ended up being a smashing success at a bowling alley/arcade,) and graduation to the end of June, so I have been working this whole month, and continue to wrap up loose ends from the school year some more this week. The school year did not end early, it went longer than normal! But I don't mind. You all know I am passionate about my job, and I am starved to get back in school. Work makes me happy!

I hope you all take care of yourselves and your souls this week. What do you think, will our reality look even more different in the fall? Only time will tell. And then I will tell, with my prolific use of parentheses. :-) 

Preface upon preface

My son shares the same interest in accessories that I do.

It's been two years since my last post, and I want to address so much before I dive back in. I feel like I need to say hi I'm back, let me preface with...

Preface #1: Where have I been? My last post was in June 2018, on the last day of the school year. In July 2018 I was blessed to become pregnant! And soon the awful morning sickness that runs in my family hit. I gave my all every day at school, throwing up in trashcans and toilets throughout the building each day, (ha--TMI? My bad, but after you've thrown up in your office in the library that has glass walls in front of two classes full of students, you kinda get over it. Hopefully I did not scar them for life haha.) I would come home and go straight to bed where I would lie down and sleep until I had to wake up, throw up in the bucket next to my bed, and get up to go do the job I love before I collapsed in bed again that afternoon. Anyway--of course it was all worth it!!! I had my sweet baby boy in April of 2019, and in the sleep deprivation of new motherhood my blog still had to wait on the back burner. My love for writing never wavered. Just yesterday I finished my first guided journal (I love those things! I own about 10, all with different themes, and write in whichever one suits my mood; hence it taking years to finally complete one cover to cover.) 

Preface #2: I meant to pick this blog back up in mid March when our school building closed due to the coronavirus. Oh, I thought I was going to have so much time on my hands! Little did I know that taking care of an almost-one-year old while participating in multiple Zoom meetings a day and working from home would not leave me anymore free time than I was used to. But I day dreamed about picking my blog back up over March, April, and May. I brainstormed how I would begin by making a light-hearted joke about how toilet paper was more valuable than gold these days.

Preface #3: Now I see that covid-19 is the least of the world's problems. Just now businesses are opening back up and stay-at-home orders are being lifted.  Last week if I had written a post it would have had a very different tone. But then George Floyd was murdered. And the world got a wake up call that we all needed, and many gross injustices received the worldwide attention they have always deserved. Yesterday was #blackouttuesday . My heart breaks. No words are enough. There are so many great resources out there, I'm not even going to try to preach anything here. I have honestly wondered if these are the end times references in Revelations. Nashville was hit with devastating tornadoes right before everything closed down for the coronavirus. A few weeks into the pandemic shut down, mid-Michigan where my brother and his family live experienced unprecedented extreme flooding. And now, the most awful part of 2020 is the death of more innocent black lives. 

The purpose of this blog is supposed to be light-hearted: to share funny and feel-good stories from school to make everyone smile, sprinkled with my love of fashion. But even education is not important if one is not alive. I do plan on picking this back up, and putting happiness out in the world when the time is right. Until then, I must support my students who need it the most right now. That is where my heart is, and right now my heart is broken.