It’s hard when every day seems like an unknown. Every day seems to present different challenges. When one thing seems to have an answer, another question arises. For me, the constant through the unknown is the resiliency my five year old has shown.
This was his year. After experiencing some struggles, he had found his niche at Kindergarten. With all of his five year old heart, he loves school. He loves his teacher. Drop off became a “don’t forget my hug and kiss” as he would run off excitedly to fist bump the Assistant Principal. No more struggles in the morning, no more tears, no more hard drop offs. He had found his place. His people. Then, it was all flipped around. A global pandemic will do that. I expected heartbreak. Regression. Tears. None of that came. Somehow, this tiny human has a greater understanding of what our new roles are and how to adjust. I credit a lot to his amazing teacher. Remotely, she has provided the support, structure and nurturance that I didn’t realize was possible to be accomplished virtually. Overall though, it’s our kids. Children have this ability to overcome obstacles. To look at life through a different lens. Now, when he talks about school or his friends, it’s not with the sadness I expected. It’s with hope, optimism and the excitement to return to school, as a big first grader. He sees the future as something bright and he’s ready to tackle it.
There may be a lot of unknowns right now, a lot that we can’t plan for or don’t know how to plan for. However, if you take a second to stop and really look around, you’ll see that the children in our lives are setting the example for how to move forward. This is an obstacle. An obstacle that we will overcome, stronger than we were before and looking towards the future like a big Kindergartener moving up to first grade.
-Erin Amidon, Administrative Assistant