It’s 5:32 a.m. on my birthday. A normal wakeup time for me, to be sure, but for once I would have preferred to sleep in a bit. Instead, I found my mind busy, not only with thoughts over where I was at this time last year but also thinking about years to come.
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Today would have been the 17th annual Walk to Remember, an event held by the local chapter of the SHARE support group for pregnancy and infant loss. Instead, like last year, the Walk was virtual: a livestream from the Wings of Hope Angel Garden that honors all babies gone too soon, a reading of the baby names from Walk registrants, and parents sharing photos from their homes or parks, together in spirit.
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This past weekend, my family gathered in the coulee where I grew up to say goodbye to my grandmother. She passed away on December 16th, 2020, at the age of 100. At the time, it didn’t feel safe to gather for a memorial due to the pandemic.
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It’s 3:30 pm on a Monday. My 4th grader should be just wrapping up his school day. My 6th grader wraps up half an hour earlier and the 4-year-old finishes preschool at 4:00 p.m. But today, all three kids are home.
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On the night before the 2021-2022 school year will begin…
Like “social distancing” became part of our vocabulary, “learning loss” are the new words being tossed around to describe the concept that children are “behind” after a year of remote/hybrid/pandemic learning and will need to “catch up” in the coming year.
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