School’s Out for Summer

Back in March when I found myself teaching for the first time I felt overwhelmed to say the least. Me and every other parent! I remember equating it to how I felt back in youth soccer as a goalie and facing a shoot out for the first time. I put all the pressures of my team's success or failure on my shoulders. The entire previous 90 minutes suddenly didn't hold the same weight as my performance did in that very moment. Now as a mother, I somehow felt that in guiding my daughter's education for the remainder of the school year I was faced with that all too familiar feeling. Like everything she had learned in the past six months would hang in the balance of how she would finish in the final three months. Under my supervision, gasp! Now that we are nearing the end, it seems silly that I ever doubted my abilities. But even more so, that I put all the pressure of my daughter's success just on me. What I have realized in these past weeks is that I’m not alone, but instead that I am lucky enough to now be apart of the wonderful team of teachers. Back in March I couldn’t of anticipated how much of a hand they would all play on getting us to the end, but even better, how much more I would be invested in her learning. I guess what I’m getting at here is that I will be forever grateful for my daughter’s teachers and for my family for putting up with me in the process. This complicated process of both learning and unlearning, patience and leaning in on my village when I had none. Unlike I was before, I’m no longer alone in the net, and neither is my daughter. There’s a whole team here.