Slice of Life- 14 of 31: Plans and decisions and lives change

    It's March! That means that I am participating in the Slice of Life Story Challenge. I am happy to co-host this event with the team at Two Writing Teachers. Everyone is welcome!

Yesterday, as I drove up our street, Jamie and her dog were walking. I hadn't talked to her, and I stopped to say hi and hear how her boys were doing. 

For more than a hundred days of school, her boys and ridden their bikes or walked up to our house for school. Some of you who have been reading my blog know that Cecily, our youngest daughter, deferred her first year of college and spent time running a pod from our house before leaving for a camping/hiking/learning trip throughout the Colorado River Basin. There was stress about her leaving the group, for sure, but they were able to find another person to step in, a former teacher, and the transition went well. 

"She says H. should be in school," Jamie said. 

I agreed, but was always torn about how much to say that when the boys were coming to our house, not because it would have diminished the pod, but because I understood and appreciated the reasons they had for wanting to keep any exposure to a minimum. 

Because the reason is so tied up in someone else's personal story of grief and loss, I will suffice it to say that for the time being, the family can shoulder the risk of exposure. 

And, as I mark the one year anniversary of the closing of school and the shutting down of so many other businesses and institutions, I am also so aware of the losses people have suffered. The change in plans. The hardships. The loneliness. The grief. 

I wished Jamie luck in her efforts to convince the other key players to give in-person school a try. I wish I could get out of my car and wrap my arms around her as she struggles with the challenges of making the best decision for her little boy. There are so many, too many, challenges during this time.