Dear Kindergarten Teacher, Hello. It’s me again. How’s my favorite superhero? I love that summer rewards you with the simplest lesson plan… R-E-C-E-S-S written across several weeks worth of calendar squares. Carefree. Playful. I can hear the exhale. You get to trade ABC’s for Vitamin D, sight words for sightseeing, and circle time for YOU time. It is the perfect perk of your paramount profession. I really hope the livin’ has been easy this summertime. As a new school year approaches, I am sending this letter with a medley of emotions. It is the last letter you will receive from me because SHE is the last kiddo you will receive…
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Dear 2020 Kindergarten Teacher
Dear Kindergarten Teacher, Hello again. Some time has passed since I last wrote to you — approximately a hundred eternities if you consider the last few months. I hope this letter finds you well, in every sense of the word. Let me thank you (for the umpteenth time) for nurturing our firstborn’s mind and heart two years ago. Her chair was small, your energy was big, and together you chicka-chicka-boom-boomed through SUCH a fantastic kindergarten year. This momma is forever grateful. When “school-as-we-once-knew-it” came to a grinding halt this spring, I thought about you. I thought about March 12, 2020 being the last date in your classroom’s pocket calendar. I…
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Hindsight is 2020
Today was Graduation Day. While we anticipated pomp and circumstance, a crummy circumstance decided to toss our well-made plans higher than graduation caps in a bustling gymnasium. His plans. Your plans. My plans. Everyone’s plans. Canceled. Revised. Put on hold. It doesn’t take 2020 vision to see that 2020 has tried to tangle our tassels. We have all been affected by this pandemic — some of us mildly inconvenienced, others gravely crushed, and the rest somewhere in between. I’m pretty sure the term “unprecedented” gives us the green light to feel how we feel about it. Exactly 70 days ago, our five-year-old walked out of his preschool classroom for the…
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Light in the Darkness
A couple of months ago, as I tucked our first grader into bed, her soft heart posed a hard question — “Are there really bad guys with guns who shoot people?” As those heavy words hung in the air, I felt her innocence hanging there too. Our little girl, clutching her kangaroo and blankie, sought big truth about her world. I had to get this one right. So we talked about good guys. I assured her we are surrounded by good guys — people who help and protect and love. Mommy and daddy are good guys. Our family and friends and neighbors are good guys. Police officers are good guys.…
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Screen Time
3h 55m per day. That is the calculated amount of time I have spent on my phone each day this week. Thank you iPhone Screen Time notification — you offer the ultimate gut check. Of course my initial reaction was, “Egads! That is WAY too much time!” followed by Madame Mommy Guilt busting through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man. Is my phone getting more attention than my family? Is screen time replacing quality time?? Do I even know how to connect with my kids for three hours and fifty-five minutes??? How do we get through this thing called life???? Tell me, Prince, tell meeeeeeeee!!!!! Valid freakout. REAL feelings. Maybe…
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Social Media, We Need to Talk.
Social media. I love you. I do. A whole lot. However, we are at a crossroads, and we need to reevaluate our relationship. Update our status, if you will. I think we should see other people. Hear me out, please. I thoroughly enjoy my time with you. You fascinate me. And quite truthfully, I am indebted to you. You have opened the floodgates to valuable, far-reaching connections I otherwise might not have. You have offered ten years’ worth of support and humor and entertainment and interaction. You have provided me with a sounding board and a friendship forum. You are my not-so-private diary and my most creative scrapbook. You are…
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Light
I have this special friend who did this special thing. A few years ago, this special friend presented a request to her buddy in Colorado — someone I have never met; a photographer. She asked him to capture a sunrise. A very specific sunrise. A February 24, 2016 sunrise. This friend knew my story. She knew that one year earlier, the sun rose on my cloudiest day — a day that left me stumbling in an unfamiliar, unwelcome valley. My heart’s broken pieces were scattered in the darkness. Shadows loomed. Yet I quickly discovered… Shadows indicate the presence of light. This February, I want to remember the light — people’s…
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Love Is All We Need
I recently created this sign during my best friend’s 40th birthday party. “If you want to bring happiness to the whole world, go home and love your family.” I’m a quote junkie. Meaningful words nudge me. Going through a tough time? Embarking on a new adventure? Feeling ______? You can bet your bottom dollar I will toss you a famous quote… and the trajectory of your existence will be exponentially inspired. Something like that. Anyway, I made this sign. I chose this quote. The best part? I carried the darn thing onto an airplane. Hello delightful flight attendant, I am [quite literally] going home to love my family, and according…
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Want-Need-Wear-Read
Want. Need. Wear. Read. Maybe you are familiar with this Christmas gift-giving philosophy. Its popularity seems to be gaining speed. Something they want. Something they need. Something to wear. Something to read. Four gifts. THE END. While I consider it brilliant, I acknowledge that some of you are cringing at the thought. The ground ‘neath the Douglas fir void of a sea of presents on Christmas morning??? “You serious Clark?” Or maybe you think four gifts is one too many. After all, the wise men only brought three. Whatever the case may be, can we all agree that our culture seems to start decking the halls WAY before it’s even…
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It’s Halftime
The average American woman can expect to live approximately 80 years. Tomorrow I will be 40. Cue the air horn blast. IT’S HALFTIME. Off to life’s locker room for a mid-game analysis, some electrolytes, and a pep talk. “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16) 14,610 days so far. Four whole decades. That’s a significant chunk of time on this blue and green ball. Hundreds upon thousands of moments woven together, forming the narrative of my life. Something about me — I’m a lyric listener. I appreciate creatively-worded and quotable songs, across all musical genres. “Dear Younger…
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Dear Kindergarten Teacher
Dear Kindergarten Teacher, I have written this letter a hundred times in my head. An ever-evolving mental rough draft, anticipating every detail of a far-off, “someday” reality that now stares me square in the eyes. Kindergarten. Our firstborn. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. Hello, my name is Mommy. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Let me just start with — I really hope your summer was adventurous and relaxing and splendid. You sooooo deserve it. Your work is full and tireless, and you fully deserve to be less tired. I hope this summer gave you that… and more. Welcome to a new school…
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Summertime
Summertime. Scooch this way. Sit with me awhile. I have some things to say while you are still very much here. I AM SO FOND OF YOU. You are the season of earlier sunrises and well-into-the-evening sunsets — promising us longer days; giving us a little more time. Sweet summer TIME. You are poolside popsicles and lemonade stands and lightning bugs and sand castles and running barefoot through backyard sprinklers. You are watermelon slices and afternoon naps and baseball games and boat rides and picnics atop checkered blankets. YOU ARE CAREFREE AND VIBRANT AND SWEATY AND HOT AND AWESOME. “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.” We need easy. Your lazy…
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Never Let Go Of Me
Vacation Bible School started on Monday. And literally out of the clear blue, my emotions tapped me on the shoulder and asked to cut in. A hard swallow. ✔️ Misty eyes. ✔️ A pattering heart. ✔️ All the feelings, all unexpected, all at day-one drop-off, all triggered by a song. I mean, a variety of things could have precipitated this sudden sentimental surge… like how ginormous their extra small t-shirts looked on them — my hair ties pulling the excess fabric into 100% cotton ponytails. Or how our 3-year-old boy bravely walked into an unfamiliar classroom with a quiet confidence, turning back for a reassuring hug and an “I love…
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Water Warriors
Survival swim lessons. I haven’t always known they existed. But from the moment I did, I have always been an advocate for these lessons. ALWAYS. Even when my children were just twinkles in my eyes, I knew that I knew that I knew… one day these lessons would train them, empower them, rescue them. According to the USA Swimming Foundation, drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in children ages 1-4 nationwide. Last summer, at least 163 children under the age of fifteen fatally drowned in swimming pools or spas. And the state with the highest number of drownings last year — Florida. Those statistics hurt my heart. The…
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All I Need to Know I Learned From a Child
The lessons we teach our children are loud and purposeful; the lessons children teach us are quiet and powerful. Little hearts, beating with simple joy. Little eyes, twinkling at the magical mundane. The smallest among us, imparting the biggest wisdom. Without any effort or expectation. Time and time again. They live and grow; we watch and grow. It’s a beautiful exchange. Our baby girl — she recently spent two nights in the local children’s hospital. Reactive airway disease (baby asthma) coupled with viral pneumonia generated the perfect storm inside her tiny body. It took all she had to gather precious oxygen. Wires entangled her. Machines beeped. Medical staff hustled. And…
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Martha and Mary
I’m a Martha. A present-day, New Testament Martha. Here’s what I mean… As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing…
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It’s Okay If You’re Not Okay
“Please let me be the first to punch the next person who tells you everything happens for a reason.” I saw this recently and had to chuckle. Its adversary — “Everything happens for a reason”— has always been my jam. I mean, who doesn’t appreciate a glass half full mentality, right? I’m a gal who tries to throw optimism like confetti. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Lemons = lemonade. But apparently, there are highly-annoyed individuals ready to sock me in the nose. Ack! I get it, though. I do. No one wants to hear Miss Positive Pants celebrate every cloud’s silver lining… when some clouds are in fact dark and gray…
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The “Mother’s Kiss”
It was bound to happen, and this morning… it did. A foreign object up the nose. More specifically, a Cheerio — lodged in the right nostril of our “curious” three year old. First I heard an “ehhhhhhhh,” which left me more annoyed than alarmed, considering lil’ guy has recently become fluent in Whine. Then he informed me that a piece of cereal had found its way into one of his orifices. I felt a twinge of mommy guilt… and I leapt into action. I knew EXACTLY what to do. No really, I did! You see, just three days ago a friend shared a video claiming, “This Weird Parenting Hack Can…
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Betweeners
I was born in 1978 (BIG party this October). I grew up in the 80’s… officially became an adult in the 90’s… and continue to do adult(ish) things in the 2000’s. Gather ‘round fellow folks of this fine generation. I coined a name for us. “Betweeners.” Our time in history has positioned us between two very real realities — We were once kids in a world without oodles of technology… now raising kids in a world with OODLES of technology. It’s a tricky fence to straddle. Neither reality is necessarily better or more affording than the other. Just different. Very, very different. And I truly believe Betweeners do our darnedest…
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The Good Old Days
“Someday soon, your whole life’s gonna change. You’ll miss the magic of these good old days.” Thank you Macklemore and Kesha, for giving this heart something to ponder. The good old days. They become sentimentally vivid when we peer at them through hindsight. The word “old” inferring they happened once upon a lovely time. And what we wouldn’t give to be momentarily back there — fully present, fully aware. So we think about them. Our good old days. Yours. Mine. And with beautiful clarity, we remember how really, really GOOD they really, really were. But… what if? What if on this day, right here and right now, you are actually…