My uncle, whom I quote all the time on this blog, has a saying that he shares with those who are uncertain about the future.

He says, “Do the next right thing. And when you don’t know the next right thing, do the next thing right.”

This solves a lot of problems. There are so many times that I’ve been unsettled and listless only to realize that I was making life way more complicated than it needed to be. All I needed to do was drive safely to my destination, slice this tomato evenly, or fold this towel.

Read More

It's ironic that, as I work with adolescents to prepare them for future education and their eventual career, they may well be headed for a field or profession that doesn't even exist right now.

Most of what I do for a living was beyond my imagination when I was thirteen, whether because technology had not yet made it possible or simply because of my own ignorance of the existing possibilities.

Read More

This is the first “first day of school” that I haven’t been a part of in quite some time.

Most of my life has been on an academic cycle, whether as a teacher or as a student. And right now, I am technically neither. My team is running the first day at The Little Middle School without me, in person, while I’m more than a thousand miles away. It makes me feel a bit wistful, and also like I’m forgetting something.

I’m slowly adjusting to the idea that I get to choose my own routine instead of following the academic calendar to pace myself and my work. It’s a bit of a shift.

Read More

Lately, everyone I talk to feels like they should be doing more.

There’s a sense of guilt over who we could be vs. who we are.

But all we really are obligated to do is stay alive. We’ve got to eat and sleep and bathe.

Then we have responsibilities to the people depending on us: our pets and minor children. And we need to hold up our end of the bargain in our committed relationships.

Read More

It’s spring. Finally spring.

Living for many years in Atlanta taught me that even a mild, short winter can seem exhaustingly long. The camellias and pansies bloom all through January and the daffodils show up around Valentine’s Day each year, but the damp, cold days felt endless somehow. I was always just ticking off the days until spring—or at least, spring-like weather.

Read More