Taylor was finally able to check out her new school on Monday, 4/19/2021, 403 days after she last stepped foot into school. To say we have been anxiously awaiting this day is an understatement. Taylor has been soooo desperate to go back to school. Desperate. It's been a rough year. She is growing and changing, and the emotions and hormones are all over the place. She's wanted to see her new middle school, meet new friends, and socialize so badly. It gave me great joy to watch her step onto the school bus at 7:21AM on Monday.
The day started at 3:30AM, when I was woken from a deep sleep by a hand on my shoulder. Taylor had come into my bedroom and said she could not sleep. In my sleep fog, I told her to crawl back into bed, take some deep breaths, and she would eventually fall back to sleep. At 3:45AM, she was back in my room, crying that she could not sleep, she'd been awake most of the night, she would be so tired for her first day of in-person school, etc. So, I got up and went into her bedroom with her. I laid next to her and rubbed her back, coached her through deep breathing, and prayed that she could get some much-needed rest for the next 2.5 hours.
Well, that did not happen. This girl could not lay still for more than 5 seconds. She was a disaster! She was so anxious about not falling back to sleep that she could not settle down enough to fall asleep. At 4:45, I suggested we turn on a movie. We started watching "Legally Blonde" for about 20 minutes. At 5:05, I suggested she try to get one hour of solid sleep before her alarm went off. It didn't happen. At 5:45, I told her she should just get up and get ready. By this point, I was afraid if she fell asleep, she would feel worse when her alarm went off.
I was worried about Taylor all day. I knew she'd be a zombie. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the red circles around her eyes. I prayed that she would be running on adrenaline and not crash and burn until she was home.
Well, she had the most wonderful day ever. The pep in her step was back when she got off the school bus. She sat at the kitchen island with me and told me all about her day: meeting her teachers in person, finally seeing some of the "friends" she'd been looking at over zoom all year, passing periods, etc. She told me about a friend, Valerie, that she had met in several zoom break-out rooms earlier in the year. As she was sitting in class on the first day, she had an email message from Valerie that said, "Taylor, is that really you sitting in front of me?" Taylor said she turned around and finally got to meet her friend. Her first impression was that Valerie was shorter than she'd expected her to be. Taylor's math teacher Mr. Gregg was very tall. What a crazy way to go back to school after spending 2/3 of the school year on zoom. Oh, I want to bottle up this memory forever. It brings tears to my eyes as I type this because she needed this so much.
For now, Taylor will go to school on Mondays and Tuesdays from 8:00-2:30. She will learn remotely on Thursdays and Fridays when the bottom half of the alphabet goes to school. The teachers live stream their classes to the kids at home; they are now referred to as the "roomies" (kids in the classroom) or "zoomies" (kids at home).
There is a chance the secondary (middle and high school) kids could go back four days a week after May 10th, provided that our Covid numbers are below 200 cases per 100,000. Fingers and toes are crossed.
In case you are confused, here is our schedule for now.
Monday & Tuesday: Taylor is at school all day. Brayden and Matty are at school from 9:00-12:30.
Wednesday: Everyone is at home for e-learning.
Thursday & Friday: Brayden and Matty are at school from 9:00-12:30.
Needless to say, Mondays and Tuesdays are now my favorite days of the week. :)
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