Across the state of California, enrollment is down 6% for the 2021-22 school year, or 160,000 students, according to the California Department of Education. And data from School Innovations and Achievement, a company that offers software and services to schools aimed at improving attendance, shows that chronic absence rates increased by 39% from March 2020 Read More
Sometimes, It’s Nothing
Do you know what I did today? Nothing. To some that may sound boring or unambitious. But for me, it was self-care, and surprisingly satisfying. Life has returned to its busy bustle, and I’m going to take a page from the pandemic playbook and incorporate days of nothing when I can. My week includes working, Read More
More Firsts
My middle son is going to his first Homecoming dance this weekend. I have so enjoyed witnessing the nervousness of the big ask (complete with a handmade sign and candy), the thoroughness of the wardrobe coordination, and the weightlessness of floating through the week with a big first waiting at the end. My oldest is Read More
This is hard
I know we all can agree on the observation that life is especially difficult right now. Pandemics, politics, natural disasters, social injustice, general un-ease about the future. I wonder though, will we look back on this time, say 20 years from now and say that it impacted or affected our lives long-term? Or is it Read More
Problems to Solve or Processes to Manage?
Two and a half years into my sobriety journey, I am learning problems are not often solved permanently. They can manifest from a variety of sources and are not always alleviated by a single solution. In short, if a problem keeps recurring, it is usually a process to be managed. In my first year of Read More
What Keeps me Here
I’ve been thinking about the processes of starting and stopping, sliding and progressing, and even completely falling off the path. While the desire to move forward in a positive direction seems to have been planted somewhere deep inside, motivation is at best a flakey companion. I’ve had periods of time, okay decades, where I felt Read More
At least…
I know it’s been awhile since I posted; all my new year’s intentions about every other day have fallen away. Drifted into the land of “I Should” like a lot of other intentions and habits I’ve cultivated over the last few years. If you’re reading today and searching for inspiration…you may want to look elsewhere. Read More
See You Soon
There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe I started to subtract blocks of time. To quantify my reality so I could digest it. To justify why I personally, as a mom of divorce and shared custody, am Read More
Musings from a sober anniversary
Last weekend, we spent our 12th wedding anniversary in San Francisco. We stayed at the Mark Hopkins, and took in a Giants game and the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibition. In between the two, we had appetizers and drinks at the Top of the Mark, the place where my husband proposed. This venue, with its panoramic Read More
Stops and Starts
You stop: Waiting for next time to be different. Waiting for five o’clock Waiting to feel better. Waiting not to feel. Waiting for “good times” Waiting for “me time” Waiting to celebrate Waiting to live And you realize that: It is different Every hour is significant You do feel better Feeling is part of life Read More