HOPE is a GOOD THING

So..... I have been gonna start this BLOG thing for quite some time and i figure there is no better time than a national pandemic/shelter in place/quarantine yourself kinda time to do it, right?

It has certainly been a crazy few weeks for everyone, and being in education, and in life trying to navigate a rather huge shift in what we do, each and every day, is almost unfathomable when you really think about it.  Providing instruction in school is just a small part of what goes on in every school building across this great country of ours....but i digress

The quote above is from one of my favorite movies..."The Shawshank Redemption"  I saw the quote on Twitter last week, and it is something i have really been leaning on ever since.  Check out the clip from the end of the movie (spoiler alert if you have never seen it, but if you have never seen it, shame on you anyway :))  The set up is Red (Morgan Freeman) finally gets out of jail and remembers something Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) told him years ago when they were in jail together...

That is not the greatest set up for the clip I know, but trust me, just hit play...watch...listen...and take in ALL OF THE CLIP.

The words...the music...the emotion...the beauty, the innocence, the simplicity of it all!

and most of all.......the HOPE that just pours out from the entire clip.

So many thoughts have gone in, through, around, back out, then back in, around, and around, and then back out again in the last few weeks.  It seems like every 24 to 48 hours we have a news cycle that is changing and evolving.  It is surely easy to get caught up in the craziness...but with all that, it really boils down to one thing that i think we all need...HOPE.  

No matter how strong, self-confident, self-assured, and trusting we are, these tough times are tough on all of us.  This crazy time is viciously forcing its will upon all of us....and in a not so subtle way!  As this situation becomes more personal for each of us, as we start to hear of  families being directly affected, someone who has gotten it, someone who is in the hospital because of it, someone who has died from it.... We all need it...HOPE.

As the reality of my daughter's Senior Year began to slip away last week and into this week, other realities came to the forefront of my mind... the reality of never getting to watch her on the lacrosse field again, the reality of not taking pictures with her on prom night, the reality of her possibly not walking across that stage on graduation day, and perhaps the toughest reality; the look in her eyes of uncertainty, frustration, and why?   And for my oldest daughter, a second year college student, the fear and unknown of "am i going back to campus?", "will i still have my job?", "will this keep me from getting into the education program?"All i can, want, and need to give to them is HOPE.

The reality of other ideas began to build as well...the reality of another level of weakness, helplessness, and sadness for her, for her friends, and for the hurt that must be inside.  The hurt that each and every day we talk about that will eventually turn into joy...the joy that will come from the memories we are making during this time.  Time that we have been able to be together as a family, play games, focus on each other, and hold each other close when the weight of the world outside our doors continues to make absolutely no sense...The Joy that comes from the HOPE of an end to this craziness.

I think too about our state, our country, the families that will forever be impacted economic downturn, by lost jobs, and most importantly by the sickness and deaths of ones they love.  How will we recover from this?  There are no easy answers to that question..

But i do know this...for now, we need to have HOPE.  

Because HOPE is a GOOD THING, 

maybe the BEST OF THINGS,

and NO GOOD THING EVER DIES!

See you #ontheHORIZON