I can only speak for myself, but, I’ve found that it has been very easy to succumb to negativity and fear over the past six months. There is a WHOLE lot of gray area in 2020 that looks a lot like uncertain purgatory. I feel like we are being asked to choose “what side to be on” all the time.

I was recently put in the category of a “pro-go-er.” Pro go? Pro go to where? To school.

I am all for my kindergartner returning for full time IN PERSON learning and socialization this Fall because he is five. And an only child. He has cried to me over the past few months because “Mama and Dada aren’t enough friends.” He has made hurtful statements accusing me of caring more about work than him. (As if working moms don’t already have enough guilt.) Lastly, I want my son to return to in person learning because my mental health and ability to balance work and family depend on it.

Our decisions (no matter how good they are for our families) are not quite good enough for the judgement slingers of the world. Why does it matter to you what “side” I’m choosing to be on? What if the “side I choose to be on” is the side of hope? What if hope became more contagious than COVID-19?

With Hope, Caroline