Y'all, what a strange, strange week it's been. Two weeks ago, I'm honestly not sure I'd ever even heard the term Coronavirus. A week ago, I thought... man, this thing is getting kind of crazy. Today, it's so much. Like many others, I've spent a lot of time researching, reading, analyzing, weighing pros and cons, and deciding what was best for our family. 

We're in a good place right now. We're social distancing as much as possible, Dan is now working from home when he's able, and we've cancelled pretty much all plans in the foreseeable future. Well, here we are then. Inconvenient? Yes. Will we get through it? Absolutely. And my sincere hope is that when this is all over, we'll be closer, happier, less crazed, and calmer. (I also really hope teachers come out of this with ridiculous amounts of respect, but that's a blog for a different day!) 

So here's what we're doing before we start going cray-cray. Every day, we're focusing on how we can make someone else's day during this. Yes, we're physically distant. But we actually don't have to be socially distant. We just have to choose different metrics now. Here are some of the things our family has added to the list. What would YOU add to it? 

-Facetime a friend or family member. 
-Pop a care package in the mail. (Bonus if you can do this without leaving home).
-Leave a post it note for your spouse on the mirror reminding him or her that she's doing a good job. 
-Do something nice for someone else in the house. 
-Send a letter or a card. 
-Leave a video message for someone (Marco Polo is my favorite app for this!). 
-Support a small business by purchasing a gift card, and then send it to someone else (local restaurants are still operating as carry out in most states!). 
-Grab a funny meme you laughed at and pass it on to someone else who will laugh too. 
-Give a compliment. 
-Take a walk outside with your family. 

Our Post Disney Recap: The Tips and Tricks I Didn't Read Anywhere Else!

We're baaaaaack from the most magical vacation to Disney World, and while exhausted, we're still feeling the Disney Magic glow. We learned a TON on this trip (which is good, because more trips are definitely in our future!), so today, I want to share these tips with YOU so that you'll be in the know too! 

The Details: Before I jump into these tips, let's get to the details. We went to Disney for six nights from a Thursday to Wednesday. We traveled as a group of six: my parents, my husband, and our two children ages five and two. We stayed six nights at Coronado Springs in conjoining rooms (worked out SO well!). We did four park days - Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, a rest day, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. 

Top Tips:
Take grandparents! I realize this won't work for everyone, but I WILL tell you that having two extra sets of hands there was HUGE in making the trip less stressful. Just having the extra help getting onto a bus, having someone else to hold a tired toddler, and having someone to help make decisions was CLUTCH, y'all. If there's any way you can travel with extra adults, you should totally, totally do that. 

Memory Maker is a must! Want to know the best use of your money? Get the Memory Maker package. I was SO excited to not have to pull out my phone every time something fun was happening. I know there's a lot of debate about doing this if you're not planning to see characters (which, if you have littles, SEE THE CHARACTERS!), but we found that there were photographers EVERYWHERE. You'll get your money's worth if you're looking around. We literally had hundreds of photos taken, and the looks on the faces of my boys in them - they're priceless. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, pictures are the BEST use of money (this is my wedding advice too!)! 

Plan a break day! So as I mentioned, we have small children. And maybe the most crucial decision we made to the happiness of our vacation was planning a break in between our park days. And here's why. By like 10 a.m. on the second day of our trip, my five-year-old was asking if we could go back to the hotel. It was a LOT. A lot of people, a lot to look at, a lot of noise. Sensory overload to the extreme. He muscled through the day and had a great time, but just knowing we had a break coming up was a lot of the reason why he was calm. Our break day was perfect. We went to a later breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (which was SO fun!), took naps at the hotel (the only day we did this!), and went to Disney Springs to walk around and get souvenirs. It was just what we needed for our littles, and I would totally recommend this if you can swing it! 

Park your stroller in backwards! Have you SEEN the stroller parking at Disney? It's a LOT of strollers, friends. I read a ton of blogs before I left about how you should mark your stroller in some way so you can quickly find it in the masses, but my genius husband had a better idea. When it was time to park, he simply turned the seats facing us as opposed to the seats facing inward. That's it. And 90% of the time, the stroller was right where we left it and SO easy to find (probably because the Disney workers didn't want to have to mess with unlocking it once we'd pulled it in that way!). The other 10% of the time, it might have shifted, but most of time, it was waiting seats out for us! 

Use your meal plan from the get go! Y'all. Let's talk Disney Dining Plan for a minute. We went back and forth on whether or not to do this, but ultimately we decided to do the dining plan. We chose one table service, one quick service meal, and two snacks a day. Since our little was still free, that gave us 3 of each meal and 6 snack credits per day. And in the beginning, we were so nervous about using all our credits up quickly, so we majorly paced ourselves. We're talking, like, using one snack credit a day for our family so that we could hoard them. Mistake! Just spend the credits, people! Like many meal plan newbs, we got to our last day with a whole lotta credits we were spending in bakeries and cafes. Just use the credits! I suppose if you run out, you can pay out of pocket then. But get the treats, get the meals (and see some of our favorites below!). 

End of February/Beginning of March weather was perfect! No long explanation for this one. The weather while we were there was amazing. The high each day was between 62-82, and it was so amazing. Go then! 

Our unexpected favorite: The Skyliner! Guys, have you ridden The Skyliner yet?! This fabulous new transportation system wasn't at Disney the last time we were there, but this was an unexpected favorite of ours on the trip. We'd seen the gondola looking system when we were walking the world showcase at Epcot, but it wasn't until we were at Hollywood Studios that our five-year-old asked if we could ride them. As we left the park that day, we decided it would be a fun way to travel around to get back to Magic Kingdom, so off we went. And it was SO fun! The boys loved being up in the air and cruising over the different hotels and resorts along the way. At one point, the kids said it was their favorite ride (which, great, that's a free ride!)! But it was SO convenient, and there was no waiting. We'll strongly consider staying at a resort that Skyliner goes to the next time we go to Disney. <3 

Stroller naps are clutch, so take a stroller! We debated heavily about whether or not to take a stroller with us... until one day in January when our kids were napping and we happened to be driving through a nearby neighborhood, and we saw a Bob double jogging stroller with a FREE sign at the end of a driveway. No shame in the free stroller game, so we pulled over and snagged that guy immediately! It needed a SUPER good cleaning, but we figured if it got lost or taken, we wouldn't really be out anything. And let me tell you, it was SO amazing to have a stroller with us for the airport AND the parks. We had planned to go back to the hotel every day so the kids could nap, but I'll tell you, that stroller was perfection, and the boys both slept in it (multiple times!). We couldn't have asked for a better free stroller to take, so if you're able to find one on the cheap (or free!) ahead of time, do that. Stroller rental ranges from $20-45 a day at Disney, and that adds up, friends. 

Hire a planner! There are a LOT of details when it comes to Disney planning, and it was overwhelming for even a planner like me. Find yourself a planner who knows the ins and outs. We used my friend Dixie with Miss Mouse Magical Vacations. She was SO helpful! She took care of our initial booking (and broke down all the options for us!), answered any questions we had along the way about dining, rides, and parks, AND she was pretty much on call while we were gone (and answered questions in MINUTES when we had trouble with Memory Maker and when I forgot our luggage tags from Disney at home!). You pay nothing for using a planner, and they literally make sure you save money. It's a win-win! 


Dining plan tips and favorites: 

Favorite Meal: Be Our Guest dinner! Yes, we went for dinner, and yes, this was two table service credits. It was TOTALLY worth it! The atmosphere was so amazing, and the food was so, SO good (I got the filet, and you could cut it with a butter knife, y'all). We got to meet the Beast afterward in his study which was so fun! This will totally be somewhere we go again. (Our second favorite meal was 1900 Park Fare character breakfast - Mary Poppins was amazing!)

Favorite Use of Snack Credits: Everything I read prior to the trip said that to really get the most out of your snack credits, you'll want to make sure your snacks are at least $5 or more. It's easy to do with some super yummy options... and shocker, we mostly went for sweets with our crew!  

Starbucks Venti Drinks and Cake Pops - I can almost hear the groans on this one, but hear me out. For one snack credit, you can score a giant delicious drink (and as the sweet barista told me at Hollywood Studios, you can add an extra shot to it too!). AND, you can score three cake pops for one snack credit! This was perfect for giving the kids a little something sweet without loading them up with a huge dessert. Plus, I knew they were familiar, and the kids would eat them. 

Goofy's Candy Company - Make your own rice krispie treat - At Goofy's Candy Company in Disney Springs, you can make your own Mickey Shaped rice krispie treat for one snack credit. Each of our boys made one (one with white chocolate covered in sprinkles and white chocolate drizzle and one with m&m's and chocolate with white chocolate drizzle). They were MASSIVE, and we brought them home with us and nibbled pieces of them for several days afterward. So fun! 

Ghiradelli Ice Cream - Apparently all our favorite snacks were at Disney Springs! We stopped by the Ghiradelli Ice Cream Shop where we snagged a single scoop of ice cream in any sort of cone with any one topping for a snack credit. Y'all, the portions were HUGE, and we all opted for waffle cones filled with chocolate. Seriously good use of snack credit! 

Peter Pan Float - And our other favorite ice cream treat was this green deliciousness from Story Book Treats in Magic Kingdom. It was lime flavored soft serve with Sprite in it, and I'm telling you, it was GOOD. Plus, it came with a chocolate feather on top. Super refreshing after a busy park day, and the four of us split one (see what I mean about not using our snack credits?!). 

Lent: Giving up things and getting so much more

Fat Tuesday is HERE, and if you're anywhere near the South Bend area, you probably had a Paczki or five (or at least saw them heavily advertised) today. And while I could probably stand to give up the sweet treats, we're heading to Disney during Lent, so unfortunately, that's a no go this year. 

I started thinking about what I really wanted to give up this year that would make a difference not only for me but for our whole family. I'm being much more vigilant about intentionally connecting this year, and one of the things that holds our family back from those intentional connections is the amount of STUFF we have. 

You guys, we are SWIMMING in stuff. When we bought this house, it was a good 1,000 square feet larger than our last house, and I remember my husband and I commenting that we could never fill all the space. Well, low and behold, we've come to find that you'll fill the space you have, and some of the rooms are BURSTING - so much so that we don't even know what all is in them anymore. 

So for Lent, we're clearing the clutter. Every day, we're donating one item in our house per family member to somewhere that could use it. Clothes to our local shelters and Dress for Success programs. Baby items to a halfway house for mommas who don't have anywhere to go. Duplicate books to organizations that gift them away. All. The. Things. 

In doing so, I'm hoping that we'll be able to connect as we pick our items each day, connect to our community as we give them away, and connect more with less in our home. By the end of Lent, we're hoping to be 160 items lighter and more connected to each other, our faith, and our home. 

What's your Lenten plan this year? I'd love to hear it! 

Potty Training 2.0: How it went with the second boy child

Let's talk about my least favorite part of parenting so far: potty training! HOLY CRAP this is so hard. But we're about four weeks in, and dare I say, I think he's got it! So tonight, I thought I'd share a little bit more of what this journey has looked like for us the second time around! 

A little background before I dive in. I potty trained our older son at 26 months old. He was just over two, incredibly verbal, and showing huge indicators that he was interested. Around the time he turned two, I picked up the book Oh Crap Potty Training, and I absolutely loved her method. Essentially, the child walks around pantsless for a few days before transitioning back into pants and then undies/pants. For those first several days, this is the only thing you focus on. Like, at all. I remember days 2 and 4 being REALLY tough with him, but I also remember that it clicked pretty quickly. 

So with our second son, I knew I wanted to try to potty train around the same age. I have incredibly stubborn boy children, and I can only imagine what more months would have done for them. 

Here's what the book doesn't address: What in the actual HELL are you supposed to do with the older child while you're potty training the younger one?! It's practically impossible to focus all of your attention on the potty training child, because you HAVE ANOTHER KID. Gratefully, we started this process during the holiday break when my husband was home and could entertain said other child, but this was my biggest concern going into it, and it was a hurdle that was tough.

Days one and two were like a dream. He got it so quickly, and we were thrilled with his progress. We did that stupid thing that parents do where we patted ourselves on the back and thought we totally had this thing nailed. 

Then day three came. And, spoiler alert, we had some SERIOUS resistance to going on the potty. Like, we weren't getting there at ALL. And worse, he was waiting until the second I went to warm up coffee or grab something to let loose. So he totally knew what he was doing! Stinker! 

Days 3 through 10 were TOUGH. We had largely stayed home from activities during the time, so on top of going stir crazy, I was getting super nervous about what our eventual return to real life was going to look like. Even if we avoided outings for awhile, at the very minimum, the time was coming where I had to take my older son to and from school three days a week, and that was a necessity. 

I remember at one point, we had a very real conversation about doing a "reset" - stopping potty training for two to four weeks and trying again after that time had passed. I was frustrated. Dan was frustrated. It was frustrating. But, in Oh Crap, she recommends waiting two full weeks and REALLY giving it a good effort before throwing in the towel. Admittedly, my focus couldn't be completely on our potty trainer because there were other living beings in the house that needed care and attention too. So we decided we would go until the 14 day mark and then decide. 

We really worked with him and tried to use language around the idea of the feeling of having to go potty. I could see him getting frustrated with himself when he didn't make it to the potty, so I knew he was trying! We did a lot of praise and encouragement, and big brother was SO helpful with this. He absolutely cheers the loudest, which is so sweet! 

And then. Day 11. 

I don't even know what changed. Maybe it was the fact that I relaxed a little bit. Maybe it was the fact that we were back to our normal weekly routine with school and activities and a regimented schedule. Maybe he just decided he wanted to show us what we could do. But on day 11, he just started using the potty. 

And knock on wood, almost a month in, it's been success ever since! He's been so good about telling us when he has to go (he even alerts us to WHAT kind of potty he needs to do), and we've seen very few accidents in either form in the past two weeks. Praise be! 

So here, in no particular order, is what I learned. 

It's hard to give full attention to potty training with other kiddos in the house. I don't have a remedy for this. I mean, if you have a way to offload other children for the interim, I suppose you can do that, but it's very hard to REALLY give that full attention. It might take a little longer. 

All progress is good progress. So many days looked like failure. I made a point each night to celebrate ANY progress forward we had during the day. Find the good moments and celebrate those while you cry into your beer each night. Or chocolate, if you don't want beer. 

Make one parent the point person. One of the things I think we didn't do a great job of this time around was splitting the duties. When I potty trained our first, I was running the show. I did the bulk of the training, and I think our son got used to my style of potty training. With our second, we were kind of tag teaming in order to make sure we both had adequate time with each child, and honestly, I feel like it kind of messed him up. I tend to be more patient with things like this while my husband is more patient during play, and I think our sweet little guy got mixed messages. I can't say for certain this hurt the process, but it definitely didn't help it. 

Give it the two full weeks. I will tell you, on day ten, I was thisclose to just throwing it all away. Our house was NOT harmonious, and I was honestly beginning to question my sanity. It was a lot. But the idea of having to start this process over from scratch was so exhausting, so we vowed to give it the two weeks. It is SO hard when you see immediate results that disappear. But I am SO thankful we didn't quit. That being said, we had some pretty big indicators that he was getting it and was just resisting. The fact that he was waiting until we walked away just proved that he could control his bladder (and control when he released it!)! 

Do what you gotta do. The book says not to use rewards. And we didn't with our first child. But this one, well, you do what you gotta do. I am totally okay with giving him a jelly belly five times a day if he goes on the potty. We didn't start out rewarding, but somewhere in the process, I was like - whatever it takes here, people! Sometimes he asks for a treat afterward. Sometimes he asks and forgets. Sometimes he doesn't ask. I don't stress about it anymore. He's doing great, and that's what counts in my book! 

So, tell me your potty training experience! How did it go when you potty trained your littles? 

Budgeting in the New Year: Spend. All. The. Gift Cards.

Happy New Year, all! 2020. I still can't quite believe that we're in the new Roaring 20s (YES, I will be calling them that from now on, so you should adjust, because we've got a decade of it comin' attcha), but alas, here we are. 

So on NYE, when my husband took a peek at our holiday credit card bill, we had a little come to Jesus meeting about our spending. We've always been decent with our money and allocate into savings, retirement, and our various other accounts, but we've got big dreams, big vacations, and big plans for 2020, so we're trying hard to cut back. 

Light bulb moment! 

Are we the only ones who acquire gift cards and forget to use them? That's us. We get a gift card that we're really excited about, and then we put them somewhere safe, and weeks or months pass before we even think about them again. 

So on January 1, I went to all the spots in our house where we keep gift cards (which, P.S., was seven different spots), and I made a list of all of them. 

Gift cards for date nights. 
Gift cards for fun outings with the kids. 
Gift cards for groceries. 
Gift cards for wellness. 
Gift cards for car washes.
Gift cards for all the things we normally do and just haven't used gift cards for. 

I'm almost embarrassed to tell you how much we had in gift cards (it's four digits, y'all). So we dubbed January the month of the gift card. If we can use a gift card on it, that's what we're doing. 

This is my friendly reminder to you. If you've got gift cards sitting in drawers, go get them out NOW and use them up this year too, friends! I bet you too have more than you think you do laying around, and it does no good for any of us to let them sit in the drawer! Join us this month in gift card-ing... and then we'll figure out a new budgeting plan for February! <3 

Word of the Year 2020: Connect

Somehow, we're already on the verge of 2020, and I kind of can't believe that. For whatever reason, it feels like it's still September, and I can't seem to wrap my head around a new year. But alas, time is ticking away, and all the magic and promise of a new year is upon us. 

I LOVE a good, fresh start. I love the idea of renewing and beginning again. What I never really loved were resolutions. I rarely kept them, and then I'd be more discouraged when I failed at whatever I'd set out to do. 

So the past several years, I've focused on a one word theme. It's something to keep me focused and grounded, and it's something I can come back to over and over again when I feel like I'm not accomplishing enough. Am I still working on my word? Then I'm doing okay! 

When I started thinking about what I wanted my word for this year to be, I knew it needed to be people focused. Pretty much the best thing in life are the relationships we have with others, right? And I want to focus there. 

So in 2020, my word is connect. 

I debated a whole host of other words first. I thought vision would be cute and clever since it's 20/20, but I tabled it when it felt like I wasn't sure where to go with it. I also loved the idea of celebrate, but it didn't focus enough on relationships for me. 

And thus, I landed on connect. Because the connections are the best things about this life. I LOVE hearing other people's stories, and I want to continue to hear those in 2020. I want to help connect other women with a business they might fall in love with just like I have in KEEP Collective. I want to connect more with my family and friends and make that quality time together count. 

And if I'm being really 100% honest, I want to make sure I'm disconnecting enough to connect. I've spent FAR too much time on my phone in the last four months - often legitimately for work - but sometimes as a way to zone out and distract too. And it's been just WAY. TOO. MUCH. So as much as I want to connect, I also want to DISconnect to focus more on relationships and quality time. 

So there's my 2020 word, friends. Are you word of the year people? What word are YOU focusing on in 2020? 

My past words of the year: 
2019: Intentional
2018: Flourish
2017: Count
2016: Thrive

Why I'm going Red for Ed, and why I hope you will too

If you live in Indiana or near Indiana, you've probably heard about the Red for Ed Movement happening on November 19. More than half the school districts in the state are closed or opting for an e-learning day, largely so that teachers can attend (and, truth be told, there just won't be enough subs ANYWHERE to cover for them). This movement has been a long time coming. 

I've been out of the classroom now for almost five years, but before that, I spent a decade teaching mostly high school English and journalism courses. And when I say that this action is necessary for the state of Indiana, action is NECESSARY, before it gets any worse. 

I know there are haters out there - believe me - I already hear your arguments. "Teachers get three months off in the summer!" "Teachers only work 8-3!" "Teachers knew what they were getting into when they went into this field!" "If you can't do, teach!" Thank you, y'all, for the same, tired arguments. Maybe decades ago, teachers got three months off and could do all their work in the workday. But this just isn't true anymore. It's not even CLOSE to true. There are so many reasons each individual educator has for why Tuesday is so important to him or her. And my list probably won't even scratch the surface. But here, in no particular order, are some of the biggest obstacles in teaching right now. 

The lack of respect in our field is startling. And Lordy, I wish I was just talking about students. The lack of respect can certainly be there among the people we teach, but I can't even begin to describe the lack of respect that comes from adults who think they know all the things. The general public has OPINIONS, y'all, and they're strong (and largely unfounded). And often times, it's parents who spread the disrespect. Almost every teacher I know has been disrespected in a major way at one point or another. My last week of teaching, I had a parent of a student come in and accuse me of not telling her child when a GIANT PAPER WE'D BEEN WORKING ON FOR WEEKS WAS DUE. Nevermind the fact that we'd already had peer edit and rough drafts due, that it had been discussed in class no less than 20 times, that it was written on the board where the class agenda ALWAYS appeared daily for the last three weeks, that the due dates were on our online gradebook that both the student and parents had access to, and that every other child in the class knew the date. My credibility and professionalism was called into question - simply because the parent COULD. It was infuriating (clearly, because five years later, I think it still raises my blood pressure). 

The system is totally biased. My last few years of teaching, I was blessed to teach journalism and our newspaper course - both electives. I also taught Junior Honors English - a required class (some form of English was required all four years). So when it came time for testing that literally determined if I would get a pay bump or not, guess what? I was always found Highly Effective and given the highest bump, if you will. Guess who sometimes didn't fall into that category? The teachers who taught remedial classes or were working with students who were literally GRADE LEVELS behind for whatever reason. The system is totally skewed, friends. Do I think I was a good teacher? I do, actually. But my students would have tested well whether I was there or not because they WANTED to. That's not always the case, and for this to be a part of a teachers pay is absolutely ludicrous. 

There aren't enough teachers and subs to go around. When I graduated college, I truly worried about getting a teaching job. I was lucky enough to score a middle school position my first year - but I knew many, many college grads who didn't get a job their first or second year out.  In order to keep that job, I had to get a certification added to my license to teach middle school because I was only licensed to teach grades 9-12 Teaching jobs were hard to come by, so I happily obliged. Before I even finished that course work, I was laid off from my first teaching job in April of my first year of teaching, and by the grace of God, I went to another district where I was hired to teach English and journalism. But guess what? I wasn't licensed to teach journalism even though I'd spent time working as a journalist at our newspaper, been an editor at our college paper, and had spent countless hours working with the same programs and curriculum I'd be teaching. So back to school I went to get my Master's of Education degree. I tell you all of this to show you the hoops I was willing to jump through to teach. It was my sole passion at the time, and I wanted to be in the classroom. And if I didn't get certified, there were plenty of other people out there who WOULD do it. 

In 2019, this just isn't the case. I know SO many districts that STILL haven't filled all their openings for the school year (in November, there are still classrooms operating with subs), and there just aren't enough subs to go around. When too many teachers are out, and not enough subs are available, teachers are the ones who end up having to sub for one another, which means they don't get a prep period that day to plan lessons, grade, attend their required meetings, or do one of any number of things they do on a daily basis. So the work comes home. Oh, and did I mention that they don't get compensated for teaching extra classes? Many districts have the "all hands on deck" mentality, and therefore teacher work time suffers greatly. 

Teachers are essentially forced to teach to the test, and it's not working. I could go on and on about this one, but I won't. Instead I'll say this. Is it working? Is all this teaching to the test working? Schools are under so much pressure to put up good numbers, and for what? Are our students coming out of school smarter and better prepared for life? Are they seeing more success in college and their careers because of these tests? Is ANY good coming from this?! I'm all for accountability, but there HAS to be a better way. 

The new requirements are insane. In the event that I haven't made the point yet, teachers work really freaking hard. I can only speak to English teachers here, because it's all I know, but I rarely, if ever, completed my work during the school day. Papers came home. Projects were graded in my classroom on the weekends. And summers were spent prepping new curriculum, going to conferences, or taking course work. So, lobbing on a 15-hour unpaid externship so that teachers can gain "real world experience" is just ridiculous. I'll say it louder for the people in the back. TEACHERS HAVE ENOUGH TO DO WITHOUT THIS REQUIREMENT. It's insulting to suggest that teachers aren't professional and don't know what they need to do in order to prepare students. It's demoralizing that as a whole, teachers are lumped into this category of being ill prepared to teach. 

Things have changed, dramatically. If you haven't been inside a school lately, I'd like to politely remind you that straight up everything has changed. We're a society that literally does everything digitally. We expect everything to be done on demand. Technology rules, often more so than actual conversation. Society as a whole seems to be skeptical. There's a lack of responsibility all the way around. Homes have changed - BIG. Family life looks different than it did 20 years ago. 

So why am I sharing this? What do I hope to accomplish. It's simply this. Now more than ever, there is a need for incredible educators. 

Our society needs it - because we need students in ALL fields to be able to go out into the world and change it for the better. 

We need those incredible educators because oftentimes, they're the most stable forces in a child's life. They're a safe space to land when life is spinning out of control. 

And we need those incredible educators because who will teach when those still there get fed up enough to leave it altogether? I've seen it happen with so much of the former staff I worked with. Who will be left to teach our future? 

So on Tuesday, I'm standing with every single educator who's marching down in Indy or sharing the cause locally. Because chances are, when those educators get home Tuesday night, they're STILL going to do work to be ready for school Wednesday. 

And they deserve better. 

Join me in going Red for Ed, friends!