My son starts high school on Wednesday.
My daughter starts kindergarten on Thursday.
When my daughter was a newborn 5 years ago, and I was still on maternity leave, home with her in all of her infant glory, I thought about this time. I anticipated it would be hard, emotional, full of excitement and conflicted inner feelings.
But, of course, I didn’t predict that it would be happening in the middle of a global pandemic which would find us starting the school year online.
I also couldn’t know that I would still be in the midst of a transition into my first semester in a new position, with more responsibility and new course preps.
It is all so much.
I wonder how we will manage with supporting a 5 year old with 5 hours of synchronous & asynchronous instruction in a language no one in our home speaks fluently.
I wonder how I will manage leading, teaching, offering professional learning opportunities, writing, and mothering.
But, when I breathe, I remember that it can only be done through grace.
I am blessed to be in community with people who remind me who I am — my family, friends, colleagues (current and former), church family, heck, even my tweeps (many of whom have never met me IRL). They are people who are full of grace. They check in on me and remind me to claim my peace. They hold space for me when I have no space to hold for myself.
It is all so much.
It is all so much.
I know this will not be easy, and I may not get it all done. It is okay. I will be okay. I am so deeply loved by family and community who give me strength. I have faith. I have support.
I know that my children may see struggles this year — social, emotional, academic. It is okay. They will be okay. They are so deeply loved by family and community who give me strength. I have faith. I have faith in them. I have support, and so do they.
May grace and peace be with you all. A peace that surpasses all understanding. As we fight battles that no one else may know, and that we may never have predicted, I hope we do so in community, extend one another grace, and experience peace.
It is all so much.
But we are not alone.