Thank God I Do

A few weeks ago, I was asked to share my testimony at a women’s Bible study brunch at the end of April. It’s been difficult to find the time to sit down and figure out what I want to share with the ladies in my church. I haven’t shared my testimony in a formal setting

Please stop saying that COVID isn’t a big deal

I am generally a pretty healthy person. I remember only a few times being really sick. During my honeymoon, I got bronchitis so bad that one night I didn’t feel like eating anything else but canned green beans. My husband took me to urgent care the next day to get antibiotics. In college, I had

A Teacher in Grief: A Reflection on Uvalde

As I eat my breakfast every morning, I usually do some Facebook scrolling. Sometimes this helps my day to be that much brighter; other times, it just brings me down. Today my Facebook scroll darkened my mood. In no way do I blame any of my teacher friends for their posts today because we need

Ode to Lexapro

I’m about to go out on a limb here and tell you that I love my antidepressant. Since I started taking Lexapro almost four years ago, my mental health has improved to such an extent that I vaguely remember what it was like to spiral into the oblivion of anxiety. A few years ago, I

Cancel Culture: A Third Perspective

I have tried to stay out of this conversation for quite a while, but the conversation came to me this week in my classroom. One of my students stumbled into an argument about the recent statement by Dr. Seuss Enterprises to cease publication of six of his lesser known children’s books. My student was serving

Even Though…

The last five months have been difficult for most of us. Over the last five months, many of us have experienced a trauma that we never expected to experience in our lives. We have undergone different stages of grief because our “normal” lives have been upended. Along with the changes to our “normal” lives, COVID-19

Why I’m Returning to the Classroom

Over the last few weeks, I have had to make a very difficult decision: do I return to teaching in-person or do I teach virtually? This is the decision that teachers throughout the nation are having to make in light of the widespread cases of COVID-19 across the country. Some teachers with medical concerns have

#MyCovidStory

A few days ago I participated in a virtual town hall meeting of a teacher’s organization in my state. During the meeting, a professor from Arizona shared statistics about states across the nation who are seeing spikes in their COVID numbers. He explained that each state saw an increase in infections as the state entered a new phase of reopening. His warning was that my own state will more than likely see a large increase in numbers soon since we have not yet seen the effects of our Phase 2 despite the fact that we are already in Phase 3. At the end of his presentation he encouraged educators to share their stories with the hash tag MyCovidStory as a way to bring awareness to the issues that educators are facing as government officials, school boards, city councils, and boards of supervisors are seeking ways to “reopen” schools this fall. So I thought I would reflect on my own COVID story as a way of describing the issues that so many of us are facing today, not just educators.

He Shouts in a Whisper

We are living in a time with a lot of noise and distraction. Since January of this year, the news has been filled with chaotic information from the impeachment hearings of the U.S. president to the increase of positive cases of COVID-19 and now to cities that are filled with signs of revolution and rebellion

A Few Lessons for Graduates

I wrote this post a few years ago, but I feel like it is timely today. This last week, I had the opportunity to revisit my high school graduation. As a high school teacher, I get to participate in the graduation ceremony each year. This year, because the students at AHS are known for bringing