Dobson fly!

8/8 Ah, paradox. My constant friend.

7/ BUT there’s also a lot of great. Thankful for my small house, my ability to bike-commute, my green garden, my library of books to take me outside of myself and keep me grounded, access to green spaces, the various communities I am part of, my spouse who makes me laugh, my kids.

6/ AND climate change unfolding quickly, and the stress of working in a broken school system with kids going through the worst scenarios, and biodiversity collapse and on and on and on. Sigh.

Edit: remove words “that live”

5/ how there is a deep desire to get my kids out of the US asap, but there are increasing problems everywhere, it’s not easy, and this land is my home and it’s up to us to push back for those who may not be able to.

4/ And how my child with a disability and comorbidities is supposed to be able to tap into a myriad of health and support services but how that’s never happened because the hoops we are jumping through keep shifting, AND

3/ How my aging rural-living parents that live have zero savings or ability to work might possibly lose their SSI and/or Medicaid during this administration and how I will need scrimp and cut major corners to financially support them, AND

2/ how we need to consider knocking down the garage for an ADU to house either aging relatives or our autistic child with a lower chance of living independently as an adult, AND

Final tally: ONE. Just 1 student out of 75.

It’s felt about the same across my classes since before the breaks and after. Though who knows how the kids are really feeling. Some of my kids need the routine and safety of school, for sure.

Which one?

It shouldn’t be so difficult to do these things, but the collective grief of world events coupled with the insane busyness of standard American life brought most of joyful activities to a halt.