The Good:

I got to talk to Piper and Amber on a Zoom call for my birthday (we postponed it until today,) and it was so wonderful to have an hour to connect with my kid. I miss them so much, and talking to them makes me feel sane and centered. Anytime you wanna talk, Piper, let’s do it.

(Piper has a 2nd job interview on Lucy’s birthday, 9/10. PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM!! Piper got laid off from their first career track job after college a few weeks ago. They’ve been living on unemployment. It sucks. We all want so much better for them. Send all the good interview mojo.

I got a birthday party package from my mom today, and I did a Facebook Live unboxing video and it was hilarious. I watched my own video too many times and cracked myself up.

Our central tech hub, Clever, is finally working so my students got to use SeeSaw for the first time this year. They had a lot of fun. While Google Classroom is easier for the teacher, SeeSaw is WAY EASIER and WAY MORE VISUAL for students. I don’t get why they can’t make Google Classroom more visual and less wordy.

One of my friends that has lots of stuff expressed all of their stuff today x 10. They also happen to be super smart, so they enjoyed our challenging subitizing activity today. I showed cards I got on GFlecthy’s site.

They really enjoyed this game. I had them tell me “what is everything you see?” They’d say “I see dice!’ “I see 3s!” “I see 9-1=8!” “I see 8 dice!” It didn’t take them long to come up with an algorithm, which I did not ask for. I said “what are the factors?” and they managed to INFER WHAT FACTOR MEANT!!! They told me there were 8 dice, and each dice said 3, so 8×3=24. It was pretty amazing .

I made myself chili. I walked to the store to get onions. Korra and I took a short drive in the truck for some evening excitement.

The Hard:

I have a flat tire. I have to keep putting air in it. I have to go to the tire shop tomorrow to have them rotate and fix it, and I hope it’s not unrepairable.

Oregon is completely on fire. The community I used to live in and own a home in, Linn County, is on fire. The sky is orange. People that live along the majestic McKenzie River are evacuated. Many towns are just full-GONE. I worry for so many of my family and friends. Friends I’ve had for 20 years, homes and/or communities now gone.

Friends and Family in Oregon and California are on the verge of having to evacuate. It is so sad. We had a death in the family yesterday, and now there’s stages of evacuation issued. My mom/sister and her family, Liam/Will and Eugene friends are safe. But my Central Linn folks are on the edge of fire disaster. They started school today…and then had to send kids home half day due to smoke. I CAN’T EVEN. I mean, they are already have so much new to deal with, now FIRE? Actual FIRE? Lord have mercy, please. Having Fire Drills takes on a new meaning.

The Reflection:

I’m so tired. I felt tired today after I woke up, and I went to sleep early. I toss and turn and feel so anxious that it bleeds into my sleep and I dream very unsettling things.

The world is hard. None of us are immune.

But.

If we can take one more second of time for perspective taking or breathing than we could yesterday…we win the day.

So, I win.

Namaste.