Month: March 2021

From Courtroom to Classroom

What?? I know what you are thinking- she’s lost her marbles. But I’ve been giving this quite a bit of thought lately. In September 2021 for the first time since we had children both were in school full time, at the same time, EVER. I was home for approximately three days before I started subbing regularly at school. Anywhere from 3-5 days a week. I’m in the lower school- pre-K to fourth grade. My favorite days are every Friday when I sub for one of the librarians. Spoiler alert, I love books. I once sold children’s books and my children have more books than some libraries.

So how did I make this correlation? I recently had a phone conversation with a former colleague from when I was a prosecutor, trying criminal cases. He and I actually tried a multi defendant homicide case together shortly before I became pregnant with our oldest. Anyway, as he was asking what I had been up to, I explained that I had started subbing at the boys’ school. There was a definite pause before the conversation continued. I know in his mind he was trying to balance the no bs, tough as nails prosecutor with the image of me reading books to lower school children. Trust me the former version of myself would not recognize this version. However, it makes total sense that after being at home with the boys and looking for a way to reengage in the workforce that I would look for something on their schedule, that allowed me to still be present at school (literally since I sometimes get to be in their room). It would also make sense that after seven plus years at home the hardened prosecutor might have softened just a touch. Motherhood changes your perspective on a lot of things!

Here’s how the analogy breaks down. I was a prosecutor for nearly a decade. I tried criminal cases. Towards the end of my legal career I was primarily trying cases of violent crime, such as murders, home invasion armed robberies, burglaries, sex offenses. So you would imagine that this is actually the furthest you could get from a lower school setting, or is it? A jury consists of 12 people and two alternates. These are twelve people that represent a wide variety of socio economic, level of education, geographic location in the county etc. You have to meet them where they are in their ability to absorb the evidence that you are going to present as a prosecutor. Each one of the jurors “learns” in a different way. Maybe one is going to diligently listen to the witnesses testimony, while another will fully absorb a video or evidence involving pictures. You need each one to follow along with the evidence or lesson if you will, in order to get a guilty verdict. All twelve need to “get it” so to speak for a successful outcome. Hmm, sounds a bit similar to the students in a classroom. It’s critical to meet each and every student where they are in level of ability to learn. You need to engage them in the ways that they learn best.

Respect and trust are universal, right? With a jury you needed to have a mutual level of respect. I needed the jurors to respect the job that I was doing while at the same time showing them respect recognizing they 1) were away from work and family to be there to hear the case and 2) that they had the awesome ability that they have in deciding the facts of the case. A jury needed to trust the process, but they also needed to trust that what I was saying and sharing with them was the truth.

How does this relate to being in the classroom?? For the most part the average class size is between 12 and 14. Each child is coming from a different home, a different background and bringing their own experiences to the classroom. Each has a different ability to be able to comprehend the lesson. Not every child is going to learn the same way. You have to break the lesson (evidence) down into bite size pieces so it’s easily comprehended. But you also have to also employ a variety of techniques to present the same information, such as a story, a hands on activity, a song etc. So while I’m not necessarily a tough as nails prosecutor I am still a no bs in the classroom. I have a softer touch and build rapport based upon mutual respect and kindness. Again you need to have the utmost respect and patience for each and every child. You need to be kind and considerate. And you hope that you will earn their respect and receive their kindness in return. This goes hand in hand in building trust and comfort. For some of our youngest learners this is their first time at school, first time away from family. No different than the jury having an awesome responsibility in deciding a case educators have a critical role in helping those children make the transition to a school setting. They need to trust that you are there for them, to help them, to guide them.

If there’s something I learned about being a trial attorney it’s that things don’t always go as planned. i.e. times when a witness doesn’t necessarily testify as anticipated or the wheels fall of the cart. Anyone who has spent any time with children knows that things don’t always go as anticipated. You can have the best laid plans that suddenly get altered because the class isn’t in the right mind space for what you have planned. Being a lawyer taught me to think on my feet and alter the plans as necessary to keep the trial flowing. Yet another way that being a lawyer and a teacher are similar. You need to be able to think on your feet. Maybe a lesson is better suited to be moved outside. Maybe the technology isn’t quite working the way it should. Maybe you flip flop your day to do a different activity that is better suited to the flow of the day. Maybe it’s taking longer for a lesson to be understood. In any event, you need to be able to think on your feet to keep the day moving.

You need to be curious and always learning. Who would have ever expected there would be a time when are children would be learning virtually? This was a pivot that required adjustment in how teachers teach and how students learn. Role as lawyer and educator are similar in this regard as well. Technology is always changing, ways to share and communicate information-lessons are always changing. We need to continually be a student. Truth be told, last year when we made the switch to virtual learning, as I set up our home base and started taking out all the materials from the closet to. make it feel like school I joked “I’ve been preparing for this my whole mom life.” While it’s funny, it’s true. At each stage I was always researching ways to continue the learning at home. I’m not sure who gets more excited to go to Lakeshore Learning- me or the boys. Educationally tools and toys have always been a part of our home, along with reading, lots and lots of reading. I’ve been so excited to be able to continue to learn and grow along.

Finally, both are truly rewarding. While there is nothing quite like waiting for a jury verdict to return in your favor and the appreciation of the victim and/or their family there is something to truly be said for helping a kindergartner write a story or see connections made with a book, faces light up when you make kinetic sand, etc. etc. While I’m a far way from a business suit and pumps I couldn’t be happier with this phase of life. This all ties back into my recent post about finding joy in what you do and having the ability to recreate yourself at the different stages of life. While I always thought I would only ever practice law, I’m now a firm believer that we no longer have to do one thing in life, that we have the ability to continue to reimagine what we are going to be when we “grow up.” We are continually growing and adapting with our circumstances. This boy mom to two couldn’t imagine being anywhere but at school watching them learn and grow, while she’s doing the same thing!

Air travel March 2020 vs. March 2021

The Coronavirus pandemic has certainly altered travel, air travel in particular. While we were accustomed to flying frequently with our boys, even when they were young we’ve literally been grounded for a full year. With several members of our family living in Arizona this has been really sad and frustrating for the boys not to see some of their cousins, aunt, uncle and grandparents. I know that we aren’t alone in not being able to see family and travel, so this isn’t a boo hoo you can’t fly/travel post. Rather, it’s a post comparing travel during the same weekend one year apart. What a difference a year makes.

Let me take you back to March 14, 2020. This is the time when literally information was updating by the hour as to what you could and couldn’t do, what you should and shouldn’t do and anxieties were really high about making the right choices when in all honesty we didn’t really have all the information we needed. The plan had been for me to fly to Arizona with the boys (at the time 4 and 6) on Saturday, March 14 and return on Wednesday, March 18. I went from being nervous about flying with both boys by myself to concerned that air travel might get grounded while we were away. This wasn’t so out of the realm of possibility as international air travel had been halted. What to do? If you’ve read my other posts you know that my Dad suffers from Alzheimer’s. Between school schedules, crazy hot summer weather in Arizona, etc March is the ideal time for us to visit and generally when we do. We considered moving the trip to the summer. But in my gut, I knew that if we didn’t go in March I wasn’t quite sure when we would have the chance to get the boys out there to see him. Thank goodness we went, come June the metrics were off the charts in Arizona and there would have been no visit!

Backing up a little bit and to give a point of reference, I flew on October 11, 2001. Yes, literally one month after the tragic events of September 11th. The airports were eerily quiet. And there was still a great deal of uncertainty, new security measures were being introduced. It was a very different time in air travel. Now back to 2020. I was filled with nerves about traveling. We of course were not at this point wearing masks. And as we know, kids touch EVERYTHING. So I was like a drill sergeant in the airport. Some might say this isn’t much different from my normal approach in the airport. We were trying to sit as far away from people as possible. Wiping everything down with Clorox wipes, sanitizing the boys’ hands after the touched anything. On every TV were updates about Coronavirus that just added to my concern in taking the trip. The airport was significantly quieter than usual. Clearly people were staying home! While that made things easier for me, it also made me question what in the world I was thinking flying with the boys. With the concern that flights might be grounded I rented a car in Arizona for the day we were scheduled to return. I was planning ahead…you know in case I had to drive from Arizona to Maryland with my boys. While this sounds like a great adventure, can we think just for a moment what that would have been like?? Thirty six hours in the car…oh my!

Ok, so back to March 14, 2020. No masks. No new purifying systems on airplanes. No new sanitizing procedures. So I just wiped everything down when we got on the plane and literally hoped for the best. To be fair, at that time I really didn’t have a full appreciation for COVID, none of us could have predicted the tremendous impact that it would have on our lives or the number of lives that would be lost. We flew Southwest and so I flew three across with the boys. We were somewhat protected as we didn’t have anyone else in our row. Snack and drink service still happened. Fast forward to March 18- four days later. We are still not wearing masks. Trying to stay as far away from people as possible. Hand sanitizing and wiping things down like crazy people. Here’s the first change- no snack/drink service on the flight. Changes were afoot to keep social distance and safety while in the air. This is somewhat laughable considering how close together we all sit on an airplane but it was the first step. In hindsight I feel extremely fortunate that we made this trip. It was like the last hoorah so to speak before we would hunker down and be home for months on end.

For the last year, we have literally gone no where. I mean, not no where, but beyond our pod family we haven’t seen anyone inside without masks. But for going to school, we haven’t been going other places. I rarely go into a store. Online shopping is my jam. We are one extreme in regards to staying safe and stopping the spread. But it became time that I needed to make that trip to Arizona again. So it meant that I was going to have to fly. Cue all sorts of anxiety. I haven’t been that close to people other than my family in a year. And let’s be honest, I was never too excited sitting that close to people anyway. Fortunately, in my role as a substitute teacher had the opportunity to get vaccinated. So in essence, I know in my mind that I should be protected, but again I feel like we don’t really know about the vaccine and ability to transfer the virus, whether you can still get the virus and be without symptoms. I worried about bringing Covid home and giving it to my family. Needless to say, the weeks leading up to what would amount to less than two days on the ground in Arizona were stress filled with what ifs and concerns about flying. Of course this is Spring Break time and everyone is apparently ready to go on vacation.

My flight to Arizona was on Friday, March 12. Why is this significant? Literally one year ago that was the last time the boys were in school for that school year. The two weeks to flatten the curve that turned into home until August. There have been so many reflections on what the year has meant and how are lives have changed. I subbed like usual and then drove to the airport. You know, how I recently posted talking a good game about not having mom guilt about traveling. Yeah, I’m still working on that one. I was filled with mom guilt about leaving. Yes, I knew they would be fine and have fun with my husband! When I got to the parking garage I noticed how crowded it was, like “normal.” Ugh. I masked up and headed to the terminal. A pleasant surprise there was NO ONE in the security line. As in not another person. Amazing, maybe the airport won’t be so crowded I thought. One noted change in the year since I had flown- rather than had you ID to the TSA Agent you slide it into a card reader. An image then appears on the Agent’s computer. He asked me to remove my mask to compare the photos. I took my ID and I was on my way. Now to get something to eat. The tables in the food court area were more spread out. There were of course reminders to wear your mask and keep your distance. There were dots to stand on to order food in an attempt to keep people distanced. I’m not going to lie, some of this seemed silly to me. I 100% understand keeping distance, but seriously we are about to all sit on top of each other on an airplane. I quickly got my food and rather than sit at a table picked a bench further away from people so I could hurry up and eat. I had pre-packed snacks for the flight but stopped to get water and a soda for the flight. As I approached the gate areas I noticed it was VERY crowded. Lots and lots of people!! I detoured to get an “adult beverage” and sit away from the gate for a bit. FYI it’s against federal air regulations to consume your own alcohol on a flight. Before I knew it, it was time to board. My goal was to make myself seem undesirable to sit next too. I joke, but seriously, I really didn’t want that middle seat to be full. Jokes on me because it was a FULL flight. Out came my face shield. While it was definitely toasty in there, I felt like it was providing an extra level of protection that put me a little more at ease.

I must say that plane itself felt the cleanest I’ve seen a plane in a long time. With that said, I tried to touch as little as possible. I only removed the bare necessities from my bag to use during the flight. Some of this, I’m sure is just my personality. Others were completely comfortable with flying. There were even families with children. The flight crew were clear about expectations regarding wearing a mask and that means over your NOSE and MOUTH. The only food service provided was water and pretzels/brownie bites. I’m not going to lie, it was the longest five and a half hours of my life. I was ready to jump off the plane when it landed. Again, the jokes on me as they had trouble getting the cabin door open. It’s much funnier now, then it was at the time!

Sunday, March 14 time to fly home. This flight was at 1:20 PM Arizona time. I was curious to see what I would find in the airport at a “prime” flying time. While the airport was crowded, security again was light and quick. Unlike in Baltimore, I had to hand the TSA Agent my ID for him to examine. Mask down to confirm I was the person on the ID and then through security. The terminal was PACKED with people. Again, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and tried to get as far away from people as possible to eat. As luck would have it this flight was also FULL. I was feeling a little less anxious about it as I knew I was just over four hours away from home. Face shield on. Kindle out. Let’s do this. I must again commend the flight crew as they were diligent in making sure folks kept their masks on properly. The limited service of water and a snack were offered. No problems with the door when we landed to I hit the ground running to get out of there! Much to my surprise at 8:30 at night (which felt like midnight) the airport was hopping. The main security check line was LONG. I was truly surprised to see so many people in the airport.

I recognize that others have been flying for work and pleasure without having missed a beat over the last year. But for someone who has basically been no where but home this trip felt like flying for the first time all over again. I must admit that I’m curious to see what precautions stay in place going forward with air travel. I imagine that it will continue to get more and more back to “normal.” I’m just not certain what “normal” looks like in a post Covid world.

I’d love to hear, have you been traveling? How have you found the experience? Share in the comments below!

MBF/MBFA versus 9 Week Control Freak

In full disclosure I am not a Beachbody coach (But, I know an amazing one if you are looking. Check out Kristi if you are looking for a coach). I am a runner who loves Beachbody. Any runner worth their salt knows that cross and strength training are critical. Prior to Covid I was working with a trainer twice a week for 30 minutes and running 3-4 days a week. Why do I mention this?? Well, because now I’m strength training anywhere from 4-5 days a week and running every day. We all cope with a pandemic in different ways, right??

Once Covid meant that all my workouts were happening at home I was doing a combination of this and that in regards to strength training with no real consistency. Translation, every couple of weeks I would go “oh yeah, I should really be strength training instead of running all of the time.” I noticed that a friend who I “met” in an online networking group was killing it with her Beachbody workouts and seeing serious results. I say “met” because I’ve never met her in “real life” but I know she’s “my people.” Her positive personality was contagious and I totally felt like I was missing out by not trying something new. I’m telling you check out Kristi Allen!! She shares consistently and helps people see results. But more importantly she creates a community where regardless of where you are on your fitness journey that you feel welcome and encouraged. Kristi did a sample week where we could try a variety of programs.

After my sample week I was hooked!! More importantly I was super eager to start MBF. Muscle Burns Fat. I wanted to add consistent weight training to my running routine. During the sample week I saw the trainer Megan Davies in action. Her quick pace, not a lot of extra talking was just my style. If I was going to combine at least a three mile run and a workout before leaving the house for school at 7:30 AM it needed to be quick and worth my while. While MBF and MBFA (Muscle Burns Fat Advanced) are related programs they are broken down into two three week blocks. When you are trying something new it would be overwhelming to think about committing to much more than three weeks. While I have been able to routinely follow a training schedule, it always had a great deal of flexibility, which was helpful with a busy mom/sub schedule. This was the first time I was going to commit to a you need to spend x amount of time on this day to finish the program. MBF is a seven day a week program. Five days a week are strength training, two days a week are Core/Cardio days and the last day is a recovery/active stretch kind of day.

From the beginning I was challenged by MBF but continually got stronger and could feel changes based upon the weights I was using for my workouts. Two days a week there are As Many Rounds as Possible (AMRAP) incorporated into the workout. My seven year old became my cheerleader and each week pushed me harder and harder to beat my score. In case you haven’t noticed I LOVED MBF. Without hesitation I moved directly from MBF when it concluded to MBFA. Holy cow, I thought I was ready and I was able to do it, but it kicked my butt!! Each and every day I was pushing myself to the max to crush the workouts. I woke up every morning energized to see what Megan had in store. In regards to equipment MBF/MBFA were easy. The only thing beyond dumbbells that you need are Bod Ropes. That’s a fancy way to say cordless jumprope. While I went with the Bod Ropes directly from Beachbody, you can pick up a pair inexpensively from Amazon.

As I was preparing to finish MBFA, so six weeks of continuous program, I was already thinking about what was next. In my mind I was simply going to go back and start MBF all over again. But, Kristi started talking about a new program that was coming out 9 Week Control Freak. It’s with one of the top Beachbody trainers Autumn Calabrese. I went back and forth as to whether or not I was going to do it. I liked MBF so much and I wasn’t sure how I would feel about switching trainers. But I’m not going to lie I had serious fear of missing out! Here’s the thing with 9 Week Control Freak though, it requires a good deal of extra equipment. I’m not going to lie the extra equipment made me nervous and was part of the reason I hesitated to sign up. The door mounted control track really had me worried. But guess what, as long as you have a standard door that opens away from you it’s super easy to mount and the workout you get from the track is well worth it!! (And there’s now an off the track version of the program) Next you need a core ball and a step. Don’t forget you also need a variety of dumbbells. So as I type this it doesn’t seem overwhelming, but before I started it seemed like a lot of stuff. I’m not going to lie the control track is no one of my most favorite things and will likely stay on our basement door forever.

So how did the workouts compare?? The style and set up of 9 Week Control Freak was incredibly different from MBF. First there was no actual music. Granted there was a Spotify playlist that I could have listened to but it seemed weird to me that there was no actual music in the workout. The workouts were broken down in a warm up, 12 minute as many reps as possible, 4 minute lifting in time with the trainer and then 4 minutes of Tabata. One day a week there was an entire session of Tabata. A lot of fit for a program has to do with trainer personality. 9 Week Control Freak definitely had a lot more talking and seemed to be at a slower pace. I’m a less talking more moving kind of person so this was an adjustment for me. But there were also lots of golden nuggets shared about fitness journeys that were worth the talking.

I found that I was quickly replacing the Tabata days with longer runs in order to maintain my running schedule. Unlike, MBF/MBFA 9 Week Control Freak was five days a week. The nine weeks are broken down into three three week chunks so to speak. Truth be told the first block was not overly challenging. Clearly, I had gotten much stronger during my MBF/MBFA programs. It wasn’t until about half way through the second phase that I really felt the intensity pick up a bit. If I’m being honest, I had to push myself to keep going and not go back to MBF. Even my boys asked “What happened to Megan?” That said, I still finished the 9 weeks. I wanted to see the program through so that I could get a real sense of it from beginning to end. I cried the last day with a sense of accomplishment for completing a 9 week program. But, I didn’t for a moment think let’s do that again.

Wha am I doing now?? I’m back to MBF and then I’ll continue onto MBFA. Last time I did the program I literally did every single workout. I’m a little crazy like that. I didn’t think I could miss one and still fully appreciate the program. What have I learned? You can take a little bit from here and a little bit from there to make a program that works best for you. My plan is to replace the Core Cardio days on Tuesday and Thursday with longer runs. But I’ll also add 10 minute core from 9 Week Control Freak on those days so I’m still getting a core workout. There are five days of lifting with MBF/MBFA and I will certainly do all of the lifting days. I’ll take some flexibility with the other days to allow time to get all my miles done too.

Needless to say I feel blessed to have Kristi as a coach. I know she’s always cheering me on to do my very best! I’m inspired to follow her journey and energy! I also feel fortunate to have the flexibility to work out every day from home. Beachbody has truly changed the way I exercise and has made me a stronger and better runner!

Have an inspired and active day!

You’ve got this- #sharethespark

For those of you who don’t know I’m the product of a small business owner. I often say that my work ethic comes from my Dad who worked tirelessly, six to seven days a week in a business that his father created. In the food industry, skilled as a butcher he had the ability to be kind when others weren’t and to work more hours in one week that many don’t even work in two. And you know what, I’m not sure I ever heard him complain. He just got up and did what had to be done and did it again the next day.

So that was a long introduction into why small businesses are near and dear to my heart. And while I’m partial to small business, not all are created equal. Some go above and beyond. Over the last several years I’ve become acquainted with Momentum Jewelry. Founder, Amy Cochrane while holding a plank one day looked down at her wrist and had a lightbulb moment. Your wrist, while you are running, working out, “momming” (yes it’s a verb) or simply just living life is the perfect place for a motivational message.

I’ve mentioned before that I LOVE words, quotes and phrases. So you had me at motivational message and personalized jewelry. But Momentum is so much more than jewelry. It’s this amazing community of employees who do everything from hand stamp the motivational messages to making sure when USPS loses yet another package that you get your items replaced. (and everything in between). And I know that I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again, when I reached out regarding a fundraiser for my quest to run the NYC Marathon. (It will happen…I just don’t know when.). The Momentum staff responded so generously and warmly to my request that I really couldn’t believe it. It was one of those renew your faith in humanity kind of moments. So they walk the walk and talk the talk. They are truly cheering everyone on!!

So that’s one amazing part of the community- but then here’s the amazing group of people- those who also love Momentum Jewelry. I love reading their inspiring messages, sayings that are important to them and see how they are pushing themselves along in life.

Let’s be real- life has its ups and downs in good times. Throw in a pandemic and holy cow if you don’t need a positive community cheering you on now I don’t know when else you possible could.

Each year Momentum Jewelry has a week of focusing on #sharethespark. I couldn’t be more excited to be selected as an Ambassador this year. In case you didn’t notice I already love them and what they stand for so I’m certainly happy to share that love. As an ambassador I was lucky enough to get my kit of goodies in advance of the big week. Included were two new sayings. Yay! Added bonus I get to share one of the motivational wraps with a friend/family member. I’ll be bringing one along to Arizona with me next weekend for my sister. As we navigate what it means to have a Dad with Alzheimer’s we constantly need a positive reminder and what better than a Motivational Wrap.

Shall we take a look at what was included in the kit?

Let’s start with the Foot Note. This little beauty fits perfectly on the lace of your shoes. As a runner, there’s no better place for the reminder to STAY STRONG. With that said, this would be a great reminder at times other than running. I’m wearing these next weekend when I travel as a reminder to STAY STRONG.

Then there were three motivational wraps. The new messages really spoke to my soul!!

YES! you can– Well if this doesn’t apply to just about anything I don’t know what does. Too tired to get up and get your workout in before work, school, the kids get up- yes! you can! Feeling defeated by your day or unable to get something accomplished YES! you can. Need some time to yourself to think and just be YES! you can take the time. I could go on and on. This is perfection!

Simply said- JUST SHOW UP. Show up for yourself. Show up for others. When it’s easy, when it’s hard JUST SHOW UP. Does this resonate with you??

Don’t look back. Again, a simple yet powerful message. Why you aren’t heading that way. You learned what you could from the past keep moving forward. You aren’t necessarily the same person today as you were yesterday or years ago. Is that good, bad or just right where you are supposed to be? So- YES! you can, just show up and don’t look back are the perfect combination of new additions to add to the Motivational Wrap collection. So tell me- which is your favorite new saying?

As you can see there’s a lot of meaning packed into something so small. Not only that you can decide how the words connect to you for the extra motivation that you need to get that run done, tackle the day and make the most of each and every day!!

I can’t wait to #sharethespark this week with Momentum Jewelry, but you know I’ll be sharing the spark well beyond this week! Tell me in the comments below which new saying speaks to you!