It’s been an emotional few weeks. A real transitional period. A time of shifting and some uncomfortable stretching out of comfort zones. New beginnings and uncertainty. We’re home. Seeing people we haven’t seen since before the pandemic. Some people who really carried us and held it down for us. Being in a space where I can say thank you for all of that. For keeping us afloat. Remembering how different our lives were then. Routinely in the hospital. Thankful for how different our lives are now. Wanting to remain so far from that other time. And school is emotional. It hasn’t always been a space of safety for Isla. So returning to school events was harder than I anticipated. But Isla’s teacher, who has worked with her for four years and is a wonderful educator told me the other day, that Isla changed her, her perspective as a teacher. It was such a gift for her to share that with us. It’s a wild and amazing experience, to have a child who by standardized assessments is not currently able to do many of whatever said thing is, but that same child can deeply move people and move mountains simply by being her. Really makes you wonder about the assessments. Like what are we measuring? What are we valuing? What are we chasing outside of ourselves? When so much power exists by simply being authentically YOU. When I get lost, Isla always brings me home❤️ 📸 @bo.pho.to