Share the Love

Four years ago this week a friend of mine, who teaches English at a high school outside of Chicago, posted this on Facebook:

To all my friends with school aged children,

I want you to know something. I love your children. I love the learning and the chaos and the laughter and the mess that make up my classroom. I love teaching children every day to be kind and brave. I don’t mind spending many extra hours at home creating engaging learning experiences for my students. I don’t mind the weekend hours of adding authentic feedback to each writing assignment I collect because I BELIEVE in the strength and the power of the written word.

But, I also want you to know that February is hard. It’s dark and cold and filled with all kinds of yucky germs (and hopefully hand sanitizer!). If you’ve ever considered sending a quick note of gratitude to your child’s teacher, do it during the month of February. Such small gestures go a long way to lift spirits and brighten days—and they mean more than you can ever know.

As I expect you can discern from her words, Beth is the kind of teacher parents hope and pray their children will have during their high school years: engaged and engaging, interested and interesting, and, as she has been since I first met her during our freshman year of college, wise beyond her years.

Beth's assessment of the month seems so simple, yet I had never thought about February in that way until the moment she spelled it out for me. I decided to act on her suggestion and send notes of thanks and encouragement to Will and Hallie's teachers, and then, as I sat at my desk writing these notes, I realized Beth's words could apply to other professions and populations as well.

February is hard. For months, postal workers have been braving inclement weather to deliver our mail. City employees have been plowing, salting, and sanding their way through massive snowfalls and freezing rain to keep our roadways safe. Doctors and nurses have been dealing with the worst flu epidemic in decades while trying to promote health and healing. Those with Seasonal Affective Disorder, depression, and/or anxiety may have been struggling more than usual to survive these dark days.

~

Most of what you just read was shared for the first time four years ago, back when what we thought was a trudge across hot coals was actually frolicking in a flower field...at least compared to what we've dealt with for the last 24 months. I imagine that almost everyone working in these jobs and professions - delivery services, city employees, medical personal, teachers, and essential workers of all kinds - would willingly return to the workloads and working conditions of two years ago. I imagine that most of them would describe themselves as exhausted and frustrated. And I imagine that many of them are ready to throw in the towel. 

Which makes this kind of outreach - on this specific day - that much more important. 

Today, in honor of Valentine's Day, in addition to showing your affection for your spouse, partner, children, family members, and friends, I encourage you to share your love with those outside of your immediate circle who might need a boost. Send a message to your children's teachers and school administrators. Leave a thank you note in your mailbox for your postal carrier. Post words of encouragement for doctors and nurses or a note of gratitude for city employees on their respective Facebook pages. Send an email to friends and/or acquaintances who struggle when the days are short and the nights are long.

In short, share the love. 

~

For those you who think this effort might not work, or that your words of encouragement might not matter...read this post, in which I shared what happened when I emailed Will and Hallie's teachers four years ago.

~

Also, happy birthday to my sis-in-law, Chandi, and happy anniversary to my parents!

This is old pic...but it's my absolute favorite of Chandi and Hallie,
making bouquets of "Will Sweeties" (what Hallie called Sweet Williams).

My parents, all dressed up and ready to support Will for
last Friday's game...even though they live 1,000 miles away.

No post tomorrow - see you on Friday!

High Five for Friday (2.11.22)

One

SNOW DAY!!! 

Well, it didn't actually snow, but freezing rain closed down our schools last Thursday. We slept in, I went for a walk before the temperature dropped, I attended a Zoom PTO meeting, Hallie and I sterilized the master bedroom and bathroom where she'd been quarantined, Will played Minecraft, both kids and I watched a movie, Hallie and I made chili, I made Irish soda bread, Hallie made blueberry muffins, I did 100 loads of laundry, and we all enjoyed not having anywhere we had to go on a weeknight.

~

SNOW DAY!!! AGAIN!!!

Below-freezing temperatures (because we have no way to melt accumulated ice on the roads) kept us home from school on Friday as well. We again slept in, I again went for a walk, and then I attended a Zoom Ballet Brazos meeting, Hallie and I baked brownies, I picked up a (very sparsely filled, thanks to panic shoppers) grocery order, and we prepped for Hallie's evening dance performance. 

I LOVE snow days. But I'd love them even more if they actually included snow.

Two

Night of Worship has always been one of my favorite dance events, and while I was less than enthused going into it this year (two changes of venue, plus an initial conflict with Will's soccer game, plus questions about whether or not it would happen due to weather took some of the fun out of it for me), the evening was still lovely. Hallie somewhat missed out on this performance last year - she had a broken foot and "danced" in only a couple of pieces in her boot - so it was lovely for her to be fully a part of the performance this year.

Three

On Saturday we had a 9:45am Zoom dance recital meeting, an 12pm ballet company photo shoot, and a 3pm pointe shoe fitting. We also had a 9:45am college showcase soccer game in Houston, a 4pm high school soccer game in Bryan, and then...wait for it...another college showcase soccer game BACK in Houston at 8pm. Divide and conquer is the name of our game, and Tom and I played a couple of good halves on Saturday. 

I'm grateful to have Tom as my copilot as we support our kids doing what they love. I'm grateful for what turned out to be an amazing late night in the car with Will. And I'm grateful for that busy Saturday...especially because we knew we had Sunday to rest and recuperate, especially because of our recent COVID experience, and especially because (at the risk of sounding sentimentally sappy) I know my time as a hands-on, day-to-day, in-the-trenches mom to these two tween/teenagers is finite. 

Four

This week was Dad & Daughter Week at Dance, and Tom made it out alive. Because I didn't get any pictures of either of them in contemporary, tap, jazz, or hip hop (no dads in ballet or company rehearsals), I'm sharing a video from this week three years ago. It's funny how dance with Hallie is more Tom's jam than mine, and how soccer with Will is much more my thing than Tom's...

Five

Happiness Highlights 

Bill and Molly are doing so well with my parents.
Here they're letting my dad hang out with them in
the basement while they eat their dinner.

Her last night of masking
brought about a bit of delirium. 

Some moments need to be documented. 

First time through a drive-thru. And he paid!

Olympics, anyone? I love them Olympics - winter and
summer - and I keep the broadcast on from morning 'til night. 

Happy weekend, friends!

En Pointe

Our dance studio invites dancers who it deems ready to start pointe to do so at the end of January/beginning of February each year. Two years ago, one of Hallie's besties, Kara, was invited to begin. Hallie was THRILLED for Kara; I remember that when Kara told Hallie her news, Hallie cried actual tears of joy, marveling at how that had never happened to her before and that she truly didn't feel jealous at all because she knew Kara deserved it and she herself wasn't yet ready.

Last year, the pointe announcement played out a little differently. Hallie believed she was ready, so when her other bestie, Avery, was invited and Hallie wasn't, she was happy and even excited for Avery, but crushed and heartbroken for herself.

But she picked herself up, brushed off the dust, and kept working.  

Fast forward a FULL year... This year, her turn - her time - finally came. 

Hallie and Avery went with Kara to her first pointe shoe fitting. Then Hallie and Kara went with Avery to her first pointe shoe fitting. 

    

And now, Avery and Kara showed up for Hallie, coming to her first pointe shoe fitting. Saturday was everything she dreamed it would be. And what could be better than sharing it with your best friends.

High Five for Friday (2.4.22)

One 

Well... After doing absolutely everything we could - virtual school last year, masks at school this year, masks at dance both years, masks indoors in public places, masks indoors in private places when there are a lot of people around, Tom and I both working from home...basically taking just about every precaution - COVID found us. Though I felt like a failure when it finally rocked our world, Tom reminded me that my hard work and my family's willingness to adhere to the precautions I wanted everyone to take kept us safe for nearly two years and until we were all vaccinated and boosted. (He is almost always the voice of reason that balances out my tendency to worry.) I still strongly support and believe in both masks and vaccines, and credit them with keeping us protected this long, keeping Hallie from developing any symptoms others than a headache and runny nose/congestion that lasted for all of 36 hours, and keeping the rest of us - as of last night - from getting sick. 

The rest of us donned masks and wore them throughout, except for when in our own individual "safe zones". (Hallie was in the master bedroom, so Will had his room, Tom had the playroom and the Mad Science Laboratory, and I had the guest room and the office.) And it worked.

Though she shed a couple of tears that first night, Hallie went willingly into quarantine and barely complained during her stay in the isolation room. When not sleeping, staying caught up in school, or dancing, she played outside, read books, watched entire Netflix shows, and crafted like her life depended on it. There's a decent chance that if you know her in person, you'll be receiving some kind of craft as a gift within the next week or so.

We all missed being in close, maskless proximity with one another - especially Hallie with the rest of us and the rest of us with Hallie - and I'm so excited that as this past week has gone on we were and as the weekend progresses we will continue to be able to return to our regularly scheduled family programming.  

Two

Related to our COVID experience...

I'm grateful Hallie was still able to attend dance classes and rehearsals via Zoom throughout her five days in isolation. What a difference it made for her to have physical activity and something she looks forward to penciled in on her "busy schedule" during quarantine.

I'm also grateful for Hallie's teachers, who were all accommodating and helpful while she tried to stay caught up with 10 days of homework, projects, quizzes, and tests online. Additionally, I'm grateful that attending school virtually last year - while unfortunate in many ways - has made occasionally having to work from home this year exponentially easier for both Hallie and Will.

Because of COVID, my parents' visit didn't go as planned. My dad was scheduled to leave Madison flying to College Station on Thursday so he could see a soccer game and then drive home with my mom and the kittens. But when Hallie's home test came back positive, we decided he should cancel his flight and my mom should leave the following morning and drive home with the kittens by herself. It's a L...O...N...G drive from Texas to Wisconsin, friends. I've made it many times with kiddos of all ages, and I bet making it with kittens is almost as fun. Thankfully, my mom is a rockstar roadtripper and she, Bill, and Molly made it back to Wisconsin safe and sound. 

This is the set up my mom and I created for Bill and Molly for their road trip home. Soft blanket, litter box, food and water, hammock, and toys hanging from the top of the cage.

Three

Speaking of Bill and Molly, they're slowly but surely making themselves at home at my parents' house. Turns out the thing that gets them out of hiding is...sports. Here they are watching hockey, basketball, and multiple football games last weekend.

My mom said that every time a player runs out of the frame/off the screen, Bill checks behind the screen to see where s/he went. He's such a smart boy. 😍

Four

After a few pretty chaotic weekends, last weekend - both because we had very little on the calendar to begin with and because Hallie was quarantining and the rest of us were keeping our distance from each other and everyone else when possible - was a welcome reprieve. On Saturday I didn't get out of bed until 10:30am (though the workers installing fiber optic internet wires out front woke me up at 7:30am), and I spent the day enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather, going for a walk, weeding the patios, cleaning and tidying around the house, doing laundry, and writing sections of this blogpost. 😉 Sunday looked similar, with a little prep for the upcoming week thrown in, and all of that is exactly what I needed to feel ready to face another busy week. 

Five

Happiness Highlights

Tom and I slept in different places (we separated
everyone to hopefully prevent spread) during Hallie's
quarantine. On the first night, my mom was in the guest
room so I slept in the living room. Despite the reason
behind the relocation, sleeping by the fire was delightful.

On the second night I moved into the guest room, where
I found my favorite candle. I lit it every night while getting
ready for bed, and it always brought a smile to my face.  

Back in the saddle again! She was
beyond excited to go back to dance.

While on my walk I saw the fire department showing
this elementary school's kindergarteners how high
(VERY) their ladder truck could go. They were so excited,
and watching them made me feel legitimately excited too.

Bill likes Westerns almost as much as sports.

And Molly loves Betty White...don't we all.

Happy weekend, friends!

Monthly Medley: January 2022

Writing

I had a challenging December-into-January writing-wise. Most of the people I work with (meaning the people I interview for articles about and communicate with for photos of their businesses, organizations, museums, restaurants...NOT my editors at the magazines) are pleasant and helpful. After all, it's in their best interest to provide me with what I - politely and with plenty of lead time - ask for, because our articles provide them with free publicity. But sometimes these people aren't pleasant and helpful, and I've been dealing with this scenario with one of my articles. I won't call this business out publicly, but the behavior and treatment definitely taints my opinion of both its product and its people. Thanks to a couple of friends,  though, I managed to get what I needed to finish the article and for that I'm grateful!

Reading

It took me a full month to read the first 100 pages of Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson...and then it took me just three days to read the final 200 pages. I'm not sure why I have such a hard time getting into books - this is a problem for me with almost everything I pick up. That said, Every Vow You Break was fantastic. Most of the characters were well-defined, the plot was interesting and included a number of twists and turns I didn't see coming, and the ending was satisfying. 

Watching

Months ago I bought tickets for Hallie and me to see Rent. It's an adult show with mature content, but the themes of gentrification, homelessness, poverty, disease, drug use, and LGBTQ relationships are both important and relevant, and I believe that the theatre, along with guidance from me, is a "safe" place to learn more about them. And the show's message that the value of life - of any life - can only be measured in increments of love...well, I can think of no better message to share, especially right now. 

In preparation for the show, Hallie and I had been listening to the soundtrack. But because I'd have to stop the music every 30 seconds to answer questions about one of the characters (of which there are many) or explain components of the plot, she was having trouble grasping the overarching story. So this month we watched the movie to help her better understand the storyline. She loved it, and I loved watching her lose herself in another musical story.

I know I don't need to justify my parenting decisions, but sometimes I feel like I should...not so much to defend my choices, but to provide a another parent dealing in a similar scenario with either support or a new perspective to consider. So in that vein... I had a conversation with my SIL - a lover of all things music, theatre, and the two combined, and who has been a part of the theatre community for most of her life - about Hallie and Rent when I was thinking about buying the tickets. I'm paraphrasing her a little here, but this was the message she left me with and what helped me decide to allow Hallie to start learning about this show:

"I think my willingness to learn about the themes in Rent allowed me to make more educated decisions about what was right and not right for me along the way. I don't think you need to shelter her from topics that will inevitably come up*, and I think that if you get to control the narrative - both the content and the delivery - it will have a more lasting impact...more so than teenage kids who want to teach her." 

* This is Erin again...trust me, these topics have come up by seventh grade.

Anyway, all that to say we watched Rent. 😂

Listening To

I'm finally getting the hang of my Echo Auto! The device wasn't hard to set up and isn't hard to use, but positioning it in my car and then remembering to use it, what it can and can't do, and to unplug it were/are different stories. I'm particularly excited about my first-ever playlist - cleverly named, "Erin's Car" 😂 - full of favorites from my childhood and adolescence, show tunes no one but me likes to listen to, and ballads I belt at the top of my lungs when I'm all alone. 

Following 

I recently discovered Abdul & Fosters (@abdulscats) and now I love him. He's a great resource - in an informal way - for kitten care and foster socializing, but he also just seems like a genuinely kind and gentle man and I adore watching him and all of his babies. 

"Just a man and his foster cats." 😍

Trying/Using

I can't remember exactly who recommended these mesh zipper bags for games, but I'm so happy I purchased them (from Amazon). As the boxes of some of our older games have deteriorated, it's become harder and harder to store them. Additionally, some of the boxes take up far more space than is necessary, given their contents. These bags are sturdy, keep everything related to a specific card or board game together, and take up less space - they're a win, win, win!

Though Will has never been a big fan of Legos, the rest of us really enjoy them. Over break Hallie built the adorable Baking Competition set, Hallie and I built the Winnie the Pooh set, and Hallie and Tom built...the Home Alone set. I bought the Home Alone House for our family for Christmas, and watching them assemble it was my Christmas present. They worked on it night after night for two weeks, and now that it's finished, it's AMAZING. The house is as close to the movie house as I think possible, and it has so many cool moving parts, like the iron that falls through the clothes chute, the sled that races down the stairs, the Michael Jordan cutout that rides the train's circular track, and the basement furnace that glows. I don't think we can ever take this one apart, so now we need to find a place to keep it on display...

front entry and stairway

living room with MJ riding the train

attic space with pullout sofa and plan of attack

basement furnace

Buzz's room

stairs to the 3rd floor

rope from 3rd floor to treehouse

treehouse

back entry to kitchen and basement

attic 

kitchen with pizza box and dog door and basement

Wearing

It's getting chillier here, especially during the evening hours...which is when, at least twice a week, I'm sitting on metal bleachers watching the Lads play football. My go-to cooler weather boots bit the dust this fall and my cold weather boots aren't designed to go with every day attire, so the time had come for me to shop for replacements. I bought two pairs of every day, cooler weather boots from Target, and I ended up keeping one and returning one. Then my mom sent me two pairs of functional yet fashionable winter boots from QVC, and I kept one and Hallie kept one. The true gift here is that because Hallie's feet are almost the same size as mine, soon we'll be able to share shoes, boots, and footwear of all kinds! 

Link for the Target boots (pictured above) is here. Link for winter boots is here. Hallie's are the black nordic print and mine are the olive snake.

Eating/Drinking

I first stumbled upon this recipe more than a decade ago, and while I probably wrote it down at the time, I have no idea where that piece of paper went. Thankfully, I have the recipe memorized - because it's ridiculously easy - but I don't have a name for this cake...so let's just call it Chocolate Caramel Poke Cake. I don't make it often, but whenever I do, I'm reminded that it's one of my absolute favorite desserts. Try not to eat it all - straight out of the pan - in one sitting! (I definitely ate at least two pieces worth right out of the pan, and the entire cake disappeared in 24 hours.)

Ingredients

• 1 9x13 chocolate cake (This can be any milk, dark, dutch, or devil's food chocolate cake - from scratch or from a boxed mix. Choose your favorite recipe and bake it in a 9 x 13 pan.)
• 1/2 - 1 cup caramel sauce (This can be any caramel sauce - from scratch or from a jar, can, or bottle.)
• 1 tub Cool Whip/whipped topping (This can be regular, lite, or fat free, depending on what you prefer.)
• 1/2 - 1 cup Heath Bar/milk chocolate toffee bits (I buy these in a bag, but you can chop up actual Heath bars if you can't find the bits.)

Instructions

• Bake the chocolate cake according to your recipe or the recipe on the boxed mix. Let cake cool completely.
• Using the round handle end of a wooden spoon, poke holes in the cake. I poke the cake about 50 times in staggered rows.
• Pour approximately 1/2 cup caramel sauce over the top of the cake, making sure at least some of the sauce seeps into the poked holes. Use a spoon to push any caramel sauce that has pooled on the top of the cake into the holes. Depending on how much caramel you like, repeat with another 1/2 cup of sauce.
• Gently - so the whipped topping stays light and fluffy and doesn't mix with the caramel sauce - spread 1 tub of whipped topping onto the cake.
• Generously sprinkle the top of the cake with toffee bits.
• Refrigerate until ~ 30 minutes prior to serving. 
• Don't worry about how to store this cake - there won't be any leftovers. 😉 

Feeling Good About

• First, this video, of the Kitten Lady singing a song she made up about one of her foster puppies.
• Second, this video, of the Kitten Lady singing her song and to which someone else added a piano part. This is exactly what the internet should be used for.
• Then (unrelated to the Kitten Lady), this man doing "that thing Americans do in the snow" for the first time. His joy is contagious.
• Finally, this kid (young adult?) who runs to hug his mom after scoring the winning touchdown. I can barely type that sentence without tearing up...
• Ok, one more. Watching this young man play the fiddle - something he was so clearly meant to do - with such passion and joy makes my heart sing.

We made it to the end of January, friends. To those of you for whom this month has been rough - and I know that's a lot of you - I'm thinking about and praying for you, and hoping February takes a turn for the better.