Monthly Archives: September 2022

Summer 2022: Life changes and multiple blessings

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This post is a “What I did on my summer vacation” kind of post. I’ve been pretty occupied all summer, so you might have missed me online. 

It took me a long time to figure out my priorities and find work/life balance. Now, you might be asking, what do you mean by “work”? Didn’t you retire in 2019? I did leave full-time work but am still passionate about teaching and learning which means I’m still involved in mentoring, coaching, and presenting PD. But I’m about to enter a new role and need to put some of my “work” aside for a while. What’s my new role? After years of waiting, I’m going to be a grandma (I prefer the title “nana”). That’s pretty exciting on its own, but last Spring I found out both my daughter and daughter-in-law are expecting in the Fall. They live thousands of miles away from my home in Kuwait and about 4 ½ hours from each other in the U.S. So there will be lots of traveling and family time ahead.

I spent the summer focusing on my family which meant flying with my husband to New York and spending a wonderful week with my son and daughter-in-law who live in New Jersey. Then we drove to an Airbnb in Connecticut where we spent more time with them and added visits from my brother and sister-in-law and my daughter and son-in-law. A week went by fast but it was awesome to be in a lovely place near the water and near each other. Then it was time to drive north to Boston to spend more time with my daughter and son-in-law. One week there and then back in the car with my hubby for the drive west to Buffalo to see my mom, sister, nephew, and his family. 

We only spent a few days at my mom’s house before we were back in the car again and headed to the airport. I dropped my husband off at his terminal to return to Kuwait, and I headed to mine after returning our rental car. I was excited to attend ISTELive 22 in New Orleans! That was a blast although I felt it was more of a whirlwind this year than in the past. I definitely need to reorganize how I navigate the massive amount of opportunities to socialize, learn, and network while I’m there and have time to sightsee. 

After ISTE, I flew back to Buffalo and found out I had COVID (like many others who attended the conference although we wouldn’t change a thing). I quickly reserved a room at a hotel near my mother’s house to be sure she wouldn’t catch it and stayed there for five days. Luckily, my symptoms were mild (congested and a sore throat but no fever or cough). Then back to my mom’s where I wore a mask for the next five days and sat as far as I could away from her while we ate our meals. It all worked because she didn’t catch the virus. 

I was to so happy to spend July at my mom’s house and celebrate her 98th birthday with her and my sister, nephew, his wife, and two daughters. While I was there, my mom and I organized her old photos dating back to the 1930s. The best part was creating photo albums that spanned from 1949 when my mom and dad met and married to the mid-1960s. In that span of time, my brother was born, my parents bought their first house, I was born, and then my sister. There were lots of photos, so we decided to organize them chronologically. Of course, as is the case in many families, some photographs had dates, but many did not. My mom remembered when and where some were taken, but there was a whole set of photos that we had to figure out like detectives. We looked at the background for clues to our surroundings, compared unknown photos to the ones we were sure about to determine our ages, etc. Suffice it to say, it was so much fun and a lot of work. This trip down memory lane was quite emotional for my mother at times and often tired her out. But we managed to finish the project before I left and that means our family is lucky to have a visual record of our shared history. Now it’s my mom’s job to fill in the blanks with some narrative which she will be working on it until my next visit. 

My return flight was scheduled for August 1st but during the last week of July my son called me and asked if I could delay my return for a few weeks to help them with some household tasks. He told me that his wife, at 6 months pregnant, had to reduce her activity based on her doctor’s advice. After consulting with my husband about extending my stay in the U.S., I changed my return day to the end of August. Then I flew to JFK airport and headed to New Jersey. I’m going to digress here for a bit to let my readers know how much I treasure this month at their house. 

Yes, I planned and was excited to return to Kuwait as scheduled, and Yes, I was excited that I could help out. Even more important is how much I felt “at home” in my son’s house. My son works remotely most days and his workday starts at 9:00 a.m. and ends between 5:00-6:00 p.m. He gets a few breaks during the day in between meetings online and works to prepare for those meetings. His role is in the management suite (corporate) so it is a demanding job. My daughter-in-law also works remotely for a start-up and has some flexibility depending on the projects she’s working on. Normally, they don’t need outside help but she’s in her 7th month and unable to do as much as she used to. So by stepping in to help, I was able to help them with their two amazing doggies, food preparation for several weeks so all they have to do is defrost and cook their meals, and an extra pair of hands to unbox baby items, organize the storage of less-used household items, and run errands now and then. 

But the month I spent with them wasn’t just helping out. It was also conversations about life, sharing ideas, and getting to know my daughter-in-law better. Living so far away from them has made it difficult to do that although I Zoom with my children and their spouses every Saturday. That time is mostly to catch up on everybody’s news and not enough time to chat about life experiences and feelings. And that was the way the whole summer turned out. Time with family in different venues in different combinations; all with a deep appreciation that we have this time together. Each of us takes time from our busy lives to just be present with each other. Such an amazing blessing!

So that’s my summer vacation in a nutshell. What lies ahead in the Fall? I’ll be returning to Boston in a few weeks to help out my daughter after she delivers and do my grandma-ing. More on that coming in October. 

A note to my readers, listeners, and my #PLN: I’m doing my best to keep in touch on social media and I plan to continue blogging and podcasting bi-weekly. In between supporting my kids and grandkids, I am working on a new book (more on that soon) and editing the workbook for Journey to Belonging which includes many ideas for lessons and activities to create the necessary environment for a sense of belonging. 

  • If you’re interested in finding out more about yourself through a journey to self-belonging, check out my EduSpark course: 

https://eduspark.world/courses/self-belonging-how-to-fly-first-love-yourself