This morning, we made a new friend, Mothy. In the last few days, there has been Bun Bun (a bunny in the backyard), Woody (our new groundhog friend), and now our winged insect who has affixed himself to the front door's class panes. E. was very excited about this, and has checked on him multiple times throughout the day to ensure he is still here. I explained to her that he will likely leave at night, but in the mean time, she's enjoyed visiting with him.The day was relatively uneventful, and I spent most of it working on a grant I'm trying to get for my school from Sustainable Jersey Schools. I already applied for the $10,000 grant to put an indoor garden in the library (complete with mini fruit trees and vegetables in a raised bed) and an outdoor zen courtyard space, but I am working on making sure my school is Sustainable Jersey certified. Alas, I've run into some trouble because some of the paperwork they need is over my head, and with everything going on, the people I need it from are super busy with other things, so I had to send in and update what I could with my own knowledge and sleuthing on the district website skills.
I also set up a Zoom call for the librarian group I belong to- it represents librarians from two counties, and while our normal end of year meeting was canceled, someone had a good idea to do a virtual meeting for those interested, divided by the type of school (elementary, middle, and high). I volunteered to organize the high school one, so on Monday, we will be able to exchange ideas, go over what we are doing for our respective schools, and hopefully solve some of the issues we are having (ie, how do we safely get books returned, especially from senior who will not be at school in the fall?).
E. had a Zoom soccer practice scheduled with her team and trainer, and prior to that, decided she wanted to get in a full workout. She commenced with running down the hall and back, doing stretching exercises, and generally turning the house and its contents into her own personal gym. She also filmed a number of these endeavors on her camera, and convinced her sister to train with her. At one point, they were doing sprints from my chair to the loveseat on the other side of the carpet, then running backwards to me, and then continuing the cycle multiple times.Soccer was on our brains today a lot. I heard from the coach I interviewed with that he recommended me for the position, but the AD and principal need to sign off on it, and there was apparently an internal candidate, so the text from him today was that he still hasn't heard back. I'm hopeful, but regardless of the outcome of paid coaching, I'll be volunteering as my daughter's team's co-coach in the fall. Today, that meant receiving an email with all the kids set to try out for the new season (whenever we can safely hold tryouts). It was exciting to see that all the kids except one will be coming back for next year, plus four kids who joined at the end of winter, and seven new girls that I don't know at all. The total is thirty girls, which means we should be able to make three teams of ten, where each kid will get a ton of attention from the trainers and coaches. It's super important at this age that the girls get differentiated, individual instruction (the same way they do for academics), so that they can grow at their own speed and reach their personal potential. I can't wait to get them back on the field in the summer or fall.
Soccer has always been a huge part of my life, and it's quickly approaching 25 years since my first state championship with my travel team. I had a friend post on my Facebook today a challenge about posting 10 photos in 10 days of my life in soccer (these variations of 10 posts in 10 days are getting more niche-oriented), and it's bringing up a lot of wonderful memories of team trips, practices, and of course, games with girls who became lifelong friends. My hope for my daughter is that she can reach her potential, whether that means winning championships, playing in college, or being on a Women's National Team that goes to the World Cup, all while maintaining the love of soccer that she currently has, and maintain the friendships she's creating on the pitch.
In the mean time, post-soccer, she created a cafe in her room, and is serving miniature milkshakes and cupcakes, along with other fare that she has stored in her closet "kitchen". It's a solid diner set up, and she's enjoying being a proprietor.
When the girls went to bed, I hopped onto a zoom call with three of my best friends, who live in San Francisco, Massachusetts, and one town over. We are all having vastly different experiences- the one in San Fran has her mom with her and her partner, and has since this began. They have an almost-two-year-old son, and just started up again with their nanny share (both parents work full time from home right now), since the outbreak by them isn't as bad, and their nanny and the other family they share her with all signed a contract about outside exposure. The other is splitting childcare time with her husband, whose work has scaled back, as they watch their almost-kindergartener and toddler. She's thankfully still working full time as a Psychologist, offering teletherapy to her clients. My other friend is a single mom working in HR from home with a four-year-old. We're all succeeding and struggling in our own ways, but having each other to lean on helps tremendously. Simply having people who validate our trials and tribulations (even though they may be different) is huge. I'm so incredibly grateful for these women, who love me and support me no matter what. Despite distance and isolation, it's a tremendous help.
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