Happy Holidays from The Laniels!

 "Lift your heads up. Be grateful you are going through this sad moment with all these other folks."~ Ted Lasso

 {Thank you, Ted Lasso, for being perfect. And, if you haven't already, watch this flawless show on Apple+, right now!} 

Happy Holidays from The Laniels!

There's really nothing new to say about the 2020 dumpster fire that hasn't been said already, but I truly think that we are coming out the other side feeling so grateful for all the miracles in the mundane like never before.

In our holiday card last year I was truly contemplating leaving this crazy teaching profession. I found renewed hope in February and decided to commit. Then came March.

                                                  {I wrote about the end of the last school year here.}                                                            

As summer plodded along, there were so many questions and so many unknowns it was difficult to know how to feel about what the school year would entail.

When questions were answered tripled and my school district adopted a hybrid model for middle school, more questions and more feelings unfolded.  

How was I supposed to teach all day in a mask? How do I connect with my one section of fully remote students? How do I connect with students I only see in person 2 hours a week? How do I maintain rigor/engagement/differentiation for 130 kids that are overwhelmed and worried too? Fully remote? How do I do that? How do I keep forgetting to change the settings on my Google docs so anyone with the link can view them? How come attendance takes 10,987 steps and takes 1,235 minutes? 

Everyday, So. Many. Questions.

Everything takes twice the effort and twice the attention to detail and it's been exhausting--for all of us. This is where the Ted Lasso quote gives me so much hope: We are not alone in this. I get the irony of this word alone. We did not see friends in person or celebrate big birthdays {50!!!} or graduating {whoop Brian!} with parties and we felt alone in feeling anxious all the livelong day, but somehow we were not alone.

I was not alone in the weirdness of teaching. Brian was not alone in being unemployed and searching for jobs. {He has a few prospects right now and all of our fingers and toes are crossed that things will fall into place!!!!} My friends who have small children were not alone in trying to stay sane. My friends working from home with make-shift offices and sketchy wifi were not alone. We know all too well that our pets weren't alone. God forbid we ran an errand without them for more than an hour! My family was not alone in worrying for our aging parents and hoping they would wear a freaking mask. {!!!!} {They do, for the most part, and they are fine, but still...} 

We were not alone.

As we head into this next phase of weirdness, may we hold onto the truth of what miracles are--they are the things that surprise us and give us joy when we need it the most. They are out there, I promise, but if you're having a difficult time seeing them, I will help you because you are not alone.