“I see your kids in the background during your one-one-one chats with my sons. Yours are working with headphones or playing in the backyard while you give my kids the attention they need. My little stinkers love you more than you’ll ever discern from their random, wandering stories on Zoom.”
‘DO NOT try to fill that void with another person. DO NOT assume for one second someone else in your life right now is going to replace what you had and wish to have again.”
“Last night, I asked my student what he plans to do post-graduation. He said, ‘I’m just going to community college.’ My heart sank. He’s worked his butt off for 4 years and isn’t proud.”
“If you’re anxious to move on, but terrified what that looks like. If you want nothing more than to resume life, but are worried it might be too soon. If you are craving guidance and direction, but feel lost and unseen. There is only one thing we can do.”
“As I type this, I’m sitting on the potty. Was that TMI? Ugh, I’m sorry. My four-year-old snapped this image of me today.”
“In less than 24 hours, our hearts turned from us to them. Our hearts somersaulted to an option that was nowhere near the table — it wasn’t even in the house. Foster care. And I was right, by the way. I’ve already given one baby back to his natural mom. But I’ll never not be a mom.”
“Delilah hadn’t been eating much, but I thought she was just starting to get picky. She screamed and cried in pain. She couldn’t walk anymore. ‘She doesn’t look sick.’ I begged them to do an x-ray.”
“I cried yesterday , I cried today. I worry about my family and my aging parents. I worry about job security, and I worry for others — those businesses that may never open back up, the friends who are suddenly out of work.”
“This is not the time to ‘suck it up.’ This is the time to own every feeling of weakness and uncertainty we have, and move forward in spite of it… together.”
“I’ve mumbled the same phrases over and over again: ‘I hope they go to bed soon,’ ‘The last time I did math we were still carrying the one,’ ‘Sure, let’s do another TikTok video.’ Sometimes too much togetherness can feel, well, like too much togetherness. But on this day – in the midst of all the imperfection – it was perfect.”
