Anxious as a Mutha

 I contemplated staying in bed today. When my husband brought me coffee (bless him) I almost rolled over and left it on the side table. Part of me wanted to cocoon in the warmth and comfort of our blankets and ignore the events of yesterday as long as I could. Yesterday was a hard day, not just for me, but for  all Americans. Or, at least, it should have been...but there is a certain levity surrounding the event that I'm finding as difficult to digest as the event itself.  To be clear, an angry mob forced their way into the United States Capitol building in order to threaten congressional leadership and prevent the certification of a democratic election. The mob demographic is irrelevant to  me, an act of terrorism is an act of terrorism. The response to this particular mob by a lot of Americans, though, is perplexing at best. Social media reactions have been either abject horror or...wait for it...outright humor. People are laughing  at this. I can't help but ...

Virtual school. Two words that have become the most hated in my vernacular. Virtual. School. The words themselves roll off the tongue with a simplicity that smacks you in the face with an irony born out of just how damned  difficult the experience can be. It's hard for the kids and it's hard for the me. I should say that it's hard for the teachers, but I'm not feeling much benevolence towards them at the moment.  Conducting school at home has been one of the most challenging hurdles I've faced as a parent. Navigating this nightmare of an educational swamp is made all the more difficult by my empathetic nature. Simply put, I hate seeing my kids experience discomfort of any kind. These days they've transcended discomfort and entered entered the realm of misery, which they occupy for 7 hours each weekday. My once-carefree children are now burdened by the weight of a school experience that carries responsibility without the benefits of socialization, accomplishment...

We've just entered a new year, but not just a new year, a whole new decade . As I get older and watch  more of these milestones slip past, I find myself reflecting on all the life I've lived and what the future might hold. On New Year's Eve, I felt moved to take a walk down memory lane and sat down at the computer to watch home movies from when my kids were little. Having been so focused on the more recent (dark) past, it was therapeutic look back into the happiest of times and realize that there is so much more to me and my story than what the last year can show. Like most people, I've been eagerly awaiting the countdown to 2021. It seems apropos to turn the page and step into a brand new decade because anything less would seem anticlimactic at the end of such a hellish year. We are all yearning to start anew and turn our faces towards the sun after nearly twelve months in the dark. For me, 2020 was the most difficult year of my life. While the pandemic presented uniqu...