Two Years Later

I tend to blame this thinking on the fact that I’m a history teacher, but I very often like to reflect back to where I was and what I was doing exactly 1 month ago, 1 year ago, 10 years ago. There’s actually been a lot of that going around this particular weekend as everyone remembers back to 2 years ago and one of the most stressful weekends in BFA history. It was March 13 when we were summoned to an All-School Assembly and told about remote teaching/learning that was about to descend upon us. Dorm kids were instructed to take everything home as Res Life and parents were currently booking planes and trains for all 108 of them. On March 14 and 15 I was scheduled for three train station runs, though in the end I only completed one of them as the others had canceled flights or were informed that they wouldn’t be allowed into their countries. By March 16 we were cleaning out lockers to discard food and hauling books and projects home in our cars, and on March 17 when the doors locked, we stared at our laptops wide-eyed and set our clocks to 18 time zones as our students suddenly spanned from California to Korea.

That spring we hoped a lot in “two week” increments as Lockdown slowly stretched into seven. Even that seems like a short span now. But the sun shines brighter two years later, despite the fact that we still squint at it over our masks. The proof is in the collection of pictures from this recent weekend!

Marking the past and seeing where we are in the present has always been valuable to me, and that’s not just because I’m a history teacher. I think it’s biblical. We see it when Joshua and the Israelites set up stones of remembrance. There's the annual visit Hannah makes to the Temple to thank Yahweh for her son, and that's on top of all the festivals the whole nation was asked to keep - to recall God's goodness to them. So if remembering draws me toward gratitude and worship, then I will constantly look to the past.

Today I praise him for the chance to cheer at soccer games, for students who invite my inner child to play improv games with them in my living room even as I invite them to drink my tea, for the Middle Schooler whose sole aim during laser tag was to keep me alive, for the first in-person recital I've attended in over 26 months, and for the girls currently squealing on my floor and working on my birthday puzzle. Two years later, I recognize the gift it is to experience human touch and resume the intimate living we used to know. Praise God!

7th Grade Laser Tag

First soccer game since 2019

Cast Tea Party

Recital Song "Give Me Jesus"