Life on the Runn...

Several years ago, after an invite from my beloved cousin Jenna, I entered The Zone. It sounds rather intense, and if I’m being honest, my first few visits were exactly that, intense. Sixty minutes of lifting (while singing cuz you couldn’t help yourself with the playlists the coaches were blaring) was one thing, but watching a woman to your right throw around some massive weights was next level a lot. It was intimidating; she was intimidating (She’d laugh at me and roll her eyes when I told her about my first impressions.). She was Nickie,  a most wonderful mentor, workout partner, coach, and friend, someone I had to say goodbye to all too soon. The Zone became a second home for me; and Nickie, Sue, Dina, Becki and others became part of my tribe. We were Team Unicorn, Team Thursday Nights with Nickie; we were more than just people who worked out together, more than gym friends.  We were a little family. We supported and encouraged each other; we carved our time for each other...

  To say that 2020 was fraught with big, bad moments might be the understatement of, well...2020, but I am going to say it: 2020 was full of big and  bad moments.  We cancelled Spring Break (because who wanted to play in a COVID hotspot, Seattle?) just in time to have our flight cancelled and vouchers issued for another trip good until March 2021, just before this year's Spring Break. I began teaching from home and slowly losing any semblance of a work-life balance.  We stopped going out and giving hugs and started to help a then-two-year-old process a global health crisis, and then systemic racism and inequities. We helped her process her first loss, her (and BR’s) beloved cat, Ripley, and she watched me (I was keenly aware of this) process a major loss of my own, they of my good friend, Nickie.  Like I said, BIG moments... Our crew (my belly, really) was getting bigger. It wasn’t the COVID 19; it was a brand new human we had hoped for and I had started to beli...

 While writing, running, sleeping, and showering have definitely taken a backseat to caring for our tiny humans, I have continued to find time to read  — usually in the middle of the night/early in the morning while nursing (thank god for audiobooks). And I’ve read some very good and necessary books this year.  I’m pleased with myself and this list!  I’d happily discuss any one of these titles with anyone wanting to nerd out, but I cannot promise coherent conversation (Sleep deprivation is real! It’s real torture, y’all!), so here’s My goodreads list - click and check em out

When Penny Johnson could no longer meet the demands placed on her, she did something about it, because, dammit, she needed to.  Johnny Castle's explanation to those who didn't get it was simple: She's taking a break.  She needs a break.  That scene from  Dirty Dancing - the best movie of all time - has provided me with an often-used mantra. It has been uttered during hours-long hikes (read: chasing BRunn up a mountain), marathon climbing sessions, limited-bathroom-break road trips across the country, and this weekend, for a full-on AJ Day.  I (reluctantly, at first) accepted what Brian had long been saying.  A break, even a brief one, was both needed and deserved. Enter a Trader Joe's run, a meal without someone sharing my plate or claiming my lap, some shopping free of a timeline or a list, and a night with a bed - and a room - all to myself.  Oh, and plenty of HGTV! It was great.  I feel great.  Self care is real (as real as mom guilt)...

 I have been elbows-deep in learning and unlearning all summer.  My investment in antiracist equity work has led to countless hours of researching, reading, investigating, viewing, engaging, and sharing. This has been a priority, a true commitment to being a better educator, partner, parent, human.  If I were to prioritize the above 'being' list, I know parenthood would be the first item on it.  Becoming a parent has not only changed who I am in many, many ways, it has also come to be the way I define myself.  I know I have to be careful with this -- there is learning and unlearning to do here, too.  And, thanks to some summer reading, Untamed   by Glennon Doyle, I'm finding -- no, creating -- the freedom to do exactly that...and our tiny human, a perfectly free little being, has been an excellent model.  BR and I were late  eager arrivals  to parenthood (REMINDER TO SELF: We don't allow social constructs to define what's normal or...

Seven weeks -- it has been seven weeks since I logged into this platform.  While I try to write a little every day (a note to Harper, a personal reflection, a check-in on my learning and my practices), I couldn't bring myself to devote writing energy to this space.  I read and researched, read some more, shared, and dug into work that I knew would better myself - as a parent, as a teacher, as a human.   I have shared much of that work via Facebook (how some of you access this blog) and Instagram, and I will continue to do so (it's the least I can do in terms of making any kind of meaningful progress, of engaging with those near and far). But I'm ready, also, to tackle a few new topics in my writing...family time at the lake and our 14th anniversary, both of which take place next week. Until then, here is some reading for you, my summer reading list: 

Early this school year, one of my amazing co-workers, Paul, said something so striking as we delved into a discussion about writing.  He said he tells students to think of writing "as a verb rather than a noun."  It's English-teacher-obvious that writing can technically be both a noun and a verb, but Paul, an art teacher, was onto something so much deeper.  He inspired me; he shifted my thinking!  It is now that  time of year in teacher-land (No, not the time where we're counting down the days until summer, a time to catch our breaths and plan for the next sprint around the track...well, at least not entirely that): it's End-of-Year Evaluation Time.  I spent some time early this week completing the required documents, ensuring I wouldn't miss the submission deadline (and would have plenty of time to review, revise, doubt myself, review again, revise some more..it's not a healthy habit, I know).  As I worked through the various documents, I kept comin...