All Else Aside . . .

Today I am grateful for supportive colleagues and many with whom I have meaningful connections. I also appreciate the stars in the vast sky and the humility looking up at them brings me.

This day marks the official start of my twenty-first year as a counselor at my current school, and my thirty-third in education. It is sure to be a year like none other before it. We couldn't have imagined the changes since a year ago. We are most assuredly a resilient bunch, my colleagues and I. All of us are . . . you too. 

What will be reflecting on a year from now?  Who knows. 

I have a rather mangled mess of feelings, fears, concerns, opinions, ideas, emotions, worries. I don't have my usual level of excitement, and yet it has been good to see familiar faces, classrooms, offices, and hallways again. 

What I won't see much of are smiles on the faces of students. I will miss that. There will undoubtedly be some beneath my mask and face shield, shining through my trepidation. The energy of a new school year is usually electric. I don't have a word yet for what the energy is now.

The return to school has been a key trending story for weeks now. Schools like mine have made the news. I have made my commitment to proceed. I will do so a day at a time. A wise approach in any circumstance. 

All else aside . . . I have gratitude in my heart this morning and faith in Great Spirit.