- Still loving video games: FIFA, Dirt Five, and Rocket League
- Playing with the neighborhood kids
- Camps with Reston at Spring Break and the YMCA after school and for April days off; he always loves it!
- Zach the entrepreneur: a detective agency with a sign, a massage business
- Spring soccer started:
- Zach asked me if I believed in God since kids were talking about that at soccer practice. So interesting!
- A call out from the ED of GFR Soccer! They invited him to pre-travel practices!
- Pink eye for Zach 🙁 Home from school another day, Th, before the day off for Eid. This in addition to Spring Break and two Fridays off in April. Sigh!
- Another play date with Thomas; his mom was so generous handing out party favor’s from Thomas’ brother’s birthday party. Zach got a slice of cake, tops with lights, and Black Panther mask and snap bracelet!
- He asked about having a sleepover with Thomas! Too soon!
- He’s loving Spanish Book/Reading Club and Lego Club kicked off on Friday, April 28, which reignited his love for Lego play
- General communication from school is SO FRUSTRATING; what Zach tells us is so hard to make sense of!
- Quarterly Reports are frustrating (It’s really fine.); lack of communication with school is a challenge. I don’t feel particularly connected to the school or that anyone knows my kid, which is disappointing.
- First field trip of the year to the National Zoo on May 4
- Zach was coerced into saying a bad word by 6th graders on the bus. They recorded him saying the word, which they asked him to say and when he asked what it meant, they told him it meant “nice person.” I found my power in the emotion that came up as I pushed the school to address the situation. I’m still unpacking the event since the word is an in-group word that Zach should never use, and the kids who said the word and coerced him into saying the word would not appear to be allowed to use the word either. This seems much worse than simply using a “bad word.” And yet, I don’t have the sense that the situation is seen as a serious incident at the school. I worry about the video being out in the world. And video taping students is definitely against school rules.
- Giving to the home-free in DC and Reston
- Kind to Callen at Spring Break camp
- Asked about JQ
- Thoughtful Thursdays notes to Siga and Mary and Jerry (who shared their love of frisbee golf with the kids)
- Bullying resources: ignore, “I want you to leave me alone,” and move seats
- Each Kindness with https://www.rootstockrepublic.com/the-root
- Audio Books: Once Upon a Tim (IQ booster words and iconoclast), We’re Not from Here, Spy School at Sea, The Comeback
- Reading by Zach: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (DWK), super hero book; Dogman; he took a book to Spring Break camp to read and read to me on the way down to C’ville
- Reading to Zach: Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon, DWK and back to Stuck in the Stone Age, some Magic Treehouse, and a throwback to Lulu and the Dog from the Sea
- We downloaded a Kidz Bop Kids playlist for the drive to Charlottesville, and this has led to a lot of KBK listening. The faves: Party in the USA and Levitating
- Also loving NKOTB and Cold Play. I particularly like My Universe
- We watched The Magician’s Elephant
- Hand play and dancing at Each Kindness at the Kennedy Center; Zach loved the harp
Sleep Update
Zach made a dream catcher at camp
- Just Add Magic - finished the original and started Mystery City; some Annedroids and MC Squared
- The Melting Pot with Frank and Zach to celebrate my cancer anniversaries and break the silence and talk about hard things! Frank shared that “I was very brave.”
- FC Loudoun Soccer Game at Segra Field for Spring Break
- Easter Egg hunt and mismatched socks from the Easter Bunny
- Thinking about a possible adventure into Canada this summer: Niagara Falls, Blue Mtn Resort on the shores of the Georgian Bay, and a ferry to the Manitoulin Islands, a boat and multiple days on Mackinac Island…maybe!
- Ice cream excursion to celebrate Zach for telling adults (Jenna, Frank, and me) what happened on the bus when he was bullied
- Day trip to Charlottesville to visit Sam, Zahra, and Julia and go to softball and lacrosse games
- Second visit to the Kennedy Center for the River Run festival and performance of Jacqueline Woodson’s Each Kindness; enjoyed meals at Tazza’s
- Pokemon Scavenger Hunt at library
- Playing our game “tennis ball” and bracelets, rock paper scissors and music
- Trip down to Sperryville; baked goods galore and the Inn at Little Washington walking path. Zach loves llamas
- Planted trees: dogwood and redbud and watering them
- We found Briscola and started playing again
- Sky Zone
- Great Country
- Udvar Hazy
- Soccer
- Another FC Loudoun soccer game at Segra Field
- The Melting Pot
- Chaatwala vegetarian fare
- Pear cake with berries and almond flour, like a cobbler
- Coucou Rachou pastries
- Thompson Italian brunch (scones and deviled eggs, frittata, marinara) with Emily and food to go
- Siga’s whimsical mushroom cookies
- Beignets with Auntie Em after cancer-palooza
- Paneer with peppers and chili pepper flakes, lemon juice, and garam masala
- Sperryville and Washington, VA baked goods!
- Balsamic tofu
- More baked goods: farmer’s market opened and strawberry and chocolate chip muffins from Baguette Republic = delicieux
- Zach overnighted in Woodstock with Mom and Dad
- Visit with Sam, Zahra, and Julia
- Emily and Jeff and Mom and Dad and I went to see Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center
- Zach and I had dinner with Katie and Suji and they came to his Honduras v. USA soccer match and brough Vero
- Chatting with Mary on a beautiful, sunny spring afternoon
- Hanging art for Mr. Johnson - just once, but headed back in May to prep for end of year art exhibition
- Video check-in with Kate and Mary Kay
- Continued highs and lows sharing with Kate, MKC, and Kathleen
- Coffee with Rae
- Video chat with Ian (for the first time in a while) and Cory (first time since re-org)
- Neighbors at bus stop, just outside, on the paths…
- Resources for Meri-Bridges
- Dinner at Auntie Em’s
- Farmer’s market with Mary, Logan, and Cora
- Couples therapy continues and is very helpful. We shouldn’t forget what’s on our heart and mind sharing!
- Started envisioning our recommitment
- Almost daily weekday walks, which help with equilibrium, so hard when they can’t happen
- Date weekend while Zach was in Woodstock. We hiked at Great Falls and enjoyed Indian from Chaatwala
Fun and Not So Fun Stuff (Personal and Professional)
Health Corner
- Anniversary of no invasive cancer was 3/31/23. Sort of took the day off, but didn’t have the support I’d hoped for. Shouldn’t need others’ affirmation, but still.
- I asked for and got some terrific support messages from Paige, Mary Kay, and Nicole
- Celebration dinner with Frank and Zach
- Third and final Life with Cancer massage from Topaz = the best! She assessed my scar tissue!
- Bought some clothes from a Chief Flattie and Boobless Thrifter at www.goingflat.com
- Emily had her April cancer-palooza and had to have an emergency colonoscopy, which got me jump started to get mine scheduled, and that is always a huge pain and anxiety-inducing. I got help from neighbor, Mary, and it’s scheduled for Friday, July 7 at Fairfax Hospital. Wahoo!
- Emily’s clear colonoscopy
- Bit the bullet and bought train tickets to Hudson Valley, NY for the Flat Retreat there from July 27-30. I think this will replace my writing retreat this year!
- Therapy continues and is helpful
- Definitely been missing my regular check-ins with Paige; did have a phone dance party and helped with her career journey. More ChatGPT fun!
- Moving into spring and longer days is tough. I like the quiet and slower pace of winter
- Continued as an accountability partner with Nicole and Mary Kay
- Frank’s food poisoning and hot weather have not been fun!
- With the change in routine, no more Friday night date nights, anxiety around cancer-versary, Emily’s cancer-paloosa, pink eye for Zach, a couple of fun, but busy weekends and anxiety around colonoscopy scheduling, etc., resilience took a hit and I definitely felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks around April 20-23
- Remember a lot more dreams lately, and they’ve been strange!
Watching
- Never Have I Ever (actually during last post-cycle, not this one, but wanted to capture!)
- Queen Sugar - seasons 1 & 2
- Abbott Elementary
- His Dark Materials
- First half of Maverick; life has gotten busy, so haven’t finished
Reading:
- 1619
- The Warmth of Other Suns - this took a bit to get into, but I’m LOVING it
- Ross Gay’s Book of Delights - Adrienne gave this to me last year at the beginning of my breast cancer journey. I’m really enjoying it!
Listening
- Coaching for Leaders
- The Culture Map
- Podcasts on succession planning
- Simon Sinek’s podcast
Professional
- Chat GPT continued experimentation, very cool!
- Leadership accountability campaign
- Leadership Institute with Leaders Listen to Understand
- Publishing lots of modules (sales, measuring success)
- ARC with IT team and I did my own Values Lantern exercise
- Cross Cultural Communications research has been fun
- Trans Awareness Workshop led to some insight
- DEIB and Belonging and demographics of South Africa and the power and privilege wheel
- The 19th webinar and reminder about body scans
- Back in touch with Haley, formerly with Subsplash on L&D matters
- Gratitude is working for me and going strong!
- Still tracking daily: gratitude, discomfort (lean into it), something new/scary/out of the ordinary, laugh (this is so much harder than it should be)
- Looking at this list and recognizing when something is really hard for me and leaning into that makes it more impactful
- Frank mentioned reaching out to some friends that I’ve really (or sort of) lost touch with, so this is really on my mind. Lucy, Janna, Greer, Todd, Kathleen. Relationships ebb and flow and that’s okay. Don’t let the distance mean more than it does.
- It’s okay to share hard things or share when things are hard; it normalizes those emotions and lets others know they are normal and they are not alone!
- Brene Brown and difference between anger (control) and frustration (no control)
- From Simon Sinek’s a Bit of Optimism: Don’t talk about my friend that way, and don’t cry alone, call someone!
- Souleika Javed’s journaling in the form of letters; I haven’t done this, but I like the idea
- Routine and schedule are medicine
- Don’t forget body scans!
Forbidden fruit creates many jams.
This quote and the story behind it really made me laugh!
--from Ross Gay’s Book of Delights
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