Hello, friends.
Welcome back to our Lenten series, Reflections of 2020.
I think a really good conversation this week.
Thanks for listening.
We’ve heard from lots of you.
Feedback has been really positive about this series and I think
we have another opportunity to hear from two people that are well known in the
community and the congregation,
Josh Beloit and Terry Brunsma,
each who have a
leadership role at the high school and the middle school respectively and each
who were at the center of the conversations about shutting school down,
preparing to reopen,
would reopening happen,
and what hurdles had to be cleared
in order to make that possible.
I think it’s really interesting to hear some of
the descriptions of those challenges from their perspectives and to think through.
Most of us may have had an opinion on school but didn’t have to be
involved in the decision-making and sort of responsibility that went with
that and I think it’s really interesting to hear from a couple guys who did.
There’s a couple pieces involved here.
Of course the first and maybe most obvious
is just the reality that these decisions are incredibly nuanced and have
significant implications for just an unbelievable number of different
programs and services and staff people.
And so when we often have conversations
about opening school, we have the luxury of getting to talk about that from the
highest level.
We think, well, are you going to open the doors and have kids sit
in seats or not?
But of course it is far more complicated than that when you
think about the food and the building maintenance and the staff people that
aren’t necessary and how you lay out spaces and they address all of that
and I think it’s interesting.
But I think maybe the thing that stuck out to me
most in this conversation,
Clint, was we also tend to look back in time thinking
that the information that we have now is always the information that we’ve had
access to and I think what’s interesting about Josh and Terry’s reflections in
this conversation is they’re able to really point out what they knew at
certain points and how the decisions that they made then have implications
for the decisions that you can make.
Now I think that’s the kind of organic
life choices that we’ve all been making in this season.
Sometimes we’re not very
generous to ourselves.
We look back and think, well,
that was a stupid thing to
do.
But if you’re generous enough to look back with some lens towards what you did know,
I think it’s interesting to see how we make decisions based upon the
information available and then to admit that that does have implications for the
way that we move forward and we celebrate when things go well.
But we need to be flexible and recognize when we need to change when they don’t.
Yeah, I recently had a conversation with someone from another state whose
children are still not back in physical school.
And reflecting on that,
I just was struck by how important I think it has been in our community that we’ve
been able to do that and fortunately to do that relatively safely and I would
argue successfully and what that means for a community.
And so what a great
opportunity to look behind the scenes at the conversations,
the decisions and the
efforts of some of the good people throughout our state and throughout our
country who have been putting their time and energy into trying to make that
happen.
And fortunately we know two of those guys really well and appreciate
their willingness to come and sort of open the door on that for the rest of us.
Absolutely, of course heartfelt thanks for both Josh and Terry for the time
that they spent sharing their story with us.
Also thanks to you for joining us
wherever you are whether on the podcast or watching us by video.
We’re glad that you’ve made the time to join us in this series and so without any further ado here’s that conversation.
[Music] [Music]
Hey welcome, thanks for joining us for the conversation.
Today we continue to talk to people about their experience with COVID.
We have opportunity to kind of look local.
We have Principal Terry Brunzma and Josh Beloit with us today as we think about the
school.
Guys, appreciate your time.
Thanks for being here.
To start with,
obviously you guys have occupied a strange circle with this stuff and the
reality of so much of what you do changing rapidly and then the long ramp
up to try and figure out as it drug on and on and as we moved into the fall and
where we’re going into schools were we not how the classes so just to start
with walk us through your experience of when those decisions happen how much
how much notice did you get how much how much warning do you get or are you
doing those things just on the fly.
Yeah I mean I reflect back the day we let out
school in March thinking we’d be out two weeks and you know what this look like
and just do we do small line stuff for two weeks and and now we’re here almost
a year into that point.
Yeah lots of communication lots of trying to process
so that you’re not re-communicating things.
I just feel like so many things
have changed so rapidly and then trying to find a place of balance in between
of what the right things to do.
I think all along we wanted to have kids in
school thankful we got to have kids in school to start the year and it’s been
been great getting people back but it’s been a long journey.
Yeah yeah for certain I think that’s a thinking back into the spring it seemed to come really
quick at the beginning and you know I think most people probably larger
organization schools churches didn’t really know what was to be expected
initially and so we just kind of did our best to kind of put things together and
then during that time in the spring I feel like we’ve met a lot as a staff to
try to figure out some plans to help the situation best for kids ultimately was
about kids in a school setting and so yeah and then you know going through the
summer planning a lot administratively about what was going to take place in the
fall and trying to put together as many contingency plans as we possibly could
knowing that there were going to be decisions made above us that we weren’t
sure how those were gonna go but trying to be as prepared as we possibly could
for whatever was thrown our way and then as we worked our way through it here
this fall you know things have changed sometimes they’ve changed without us
knowing what they’re gonna they’re gonna be like and so you know just having as
as much communication with each other and our stakeholders to make sure that
it’s best for kids and so as that snowball got bigger in the spring in
other words for a while it was going to be maybe out of school for two weeks
three weeks four weeks and then it was losing some activities losing some
events how long was it before you guys realized we’re not coming back not not
in the spring I don’t think it took probably too long honestly to think that
you know this is probably going to be extended through the rest of the school
year I’m trying to think of even the date it was early March I suppose when
we let out and I know initially we were thinking a couple of weeks and I think
as we got closer to that couple of week mark we kind of realized as a staff like
this is probably going to end up going through the rest of the school year so I
think it it came fairly quick and thinking that it was going to be extended
and at that point you’re kind of putting all your efforts into providing some
sort of educational materials outside of the building trying to
get those into people’s homes via computer and broadcast streaming all of that stuff
what’s that like because you know in the church perspective and I would imagine
it was fairly typical of lots of organizations and especially the school
just everything changed it felt like it just changed it once you’re a you’re an
in-person organization and then with really no preparation or even education
or planning guess what now you’re digital and you’re doing that all at
once what what was how’d you manage that I feel like that was probably the most
stressful time leadership wise from in school wise you have you know anyway I
feel like people go into education because they love relationships and
connection and contact and so you have teachers that all of a sudden are looking
at doing something that they’ve never done before similar to church you know I
mean and so that learning curve and that quick transition and then you have
kids in all different situations from having parents and guardians at home to
help support from not having parents and guardians to having older siblings help
younger siblings and there’s just so many things in there and what you didn’t
want to do is create even bigger gaps and in learning proud of how our
teachers responded to try to provide provide things but we knew you know it
was gonna take longer to get it to be its best it wasn’t gonna just immediately
happen and so that that that was a difficult transition I felt like yeah
for sure I think you know a lot of our staff had worked on the fringes of some
of those technology things prior to hold that but then just suddenly like hey we
need to be an online school and so it took a lot of you know our staff members
were really you know flying the plane as you were building it at the same time
you know and so we had staff members that would communicate to each other and
to me like I tried to do this technology piece and it didn’t work so well
so maybe I’ll try this and it probably sped up or did speed up the process of
you know how we might do those things moving forward things that we’ve talked
about before but like didn’t have the like experience or the necessity to do
them but so there’s lots of positives that came out of it but yeah it was
definitely a transition that was it was a little difficult so maybe maybe this
ends up being more applicable as you begin the new school year just in the
crunch of trying to figure that all out last spring maybe maybe some of this
just wasn’t able to be on the on the front burner but the reality of school
is not only are you doing education but there’s a lot of other stuff there’s
school lunches there’s trying to meet some of those other gaps coach between
where kids are and how can we you’re trying to encompass a lot of things other
than just the teaching aspect so what gets affected there and and how does how
does that happen or is that a matter of turning teachers loose turning people
advocates loose in those areas you know I know that really throughout this time
the backpack pantry here just been I mean often overflowing but so those
kind of things how did how did you try to ensure that those things weren’t
falling through the cracks and how do you manage the things that aren’t really
classroom things yeah I think you got to put people who are good at certain
things like you say let them go and let them do their thing and at least in the
middle school world of things they have a lot of great people who are are willing
to serve and to help kids in a lot of different ways and so the backpack
program is a is a nice example of that and as you mentioned I mean when we
initially put out like a the school lunch thing like we’re gonna do it a
little bit different we need kids get lunch and we were just overwhelmed with
the amount of people who were willing to help and to bring things in I know in
one specific example I came out here to organize our help and like as you
mentioned the food was like falling out of the space provided we had to find new
space for it because people willing to do that but yeah I think it takes you
know the foresight to see which people are good at which things and allow them
to to do their thing and and people at the middle school were really willing to
do that but yeah you know that logistically and management wise it just
changed a lot of things and is probably overwhelming for one particular person
like myself to do it all alone so we had to have people jump in and take some
stuff so it may be too early to say this but in lots of areas you know I think in
the church the 2020 experience has probably shifted some things I’ve talked
to others in the corporate world who said yeah we may never do big meetings
are there things that you think either for you personally in your job or for
education in general that you see the possibility of changing permanently do
you think there are some things that maybe this COVID experience has shifted
and now that those skills or new avenues have been developed that they’ll they’ll
stick with us you think there’s anything that’s going to stay yeah you know I
think in education we talk all the time about how do we provide the best
education for each student and education is different for each student each
student situations different I feel like through this making us push into the
online learning I think we’re gonna have kids that students no matter what have
that path or have that option that we’ve that we got better at that and that
students will have that as an opportunity to move forward I think yeah
from a meeting standpoint the ability to communicate and meet through technology
will be there you know some things we’ve done in the school we’ve spaced out
rooms a lot and what’s been interesting to me is how much fewer discipline
issues we have in that and sometimes space is a good thing you know what I
mean and sometimes it’s not but you know I think you I think we’ll look at even
our buildings differently of how we reconfigure that when this is done and
how does that allow us to do things better so there’s been a lot I think
that way obviously there’s things that we’re excited to to be able to have a
full school assembly to get people together similar to church to shake
hands to hug that part but I do think there’s things that education will
forever be different yeah I think specifically as I’ll echo Josh’s comment
there in regards to like individualizing education and providing maybe a unique
experience for all kids and I know all kids have a unique experience in school
but being able to have the flexibility and learning whether that be in where
you’re at or how you learn I think that process has sped up a lot here since
this whole thing began thinking about teachers who are now doing a lot of
their lessons both virtually and in person and you know videotaping things
and sending them out so that if a student you know they could be gone on a
vacation and they’re gonna get provided the education just like they would in
the classroom or just utilizing the technology tools that are available to
us that maybe we didn’t jump all into initially but had to with this provides
a different experience for kids and it’s something that we’ve talked about as a
middle school staff like what are the things instead of like focusing on the
negatives of this whole thing but what are the things that we want to keep that
have happened during this time that would make a positive impact in our
school and so we’ve got a lot of those things that we’ve talked about and there
are actually a lot of things that I think we will change that will make us
better moving forward so from a from both the school standpoint from a
personal standpoint and from an educational standpoint what has been the
hardest or one of the most challenging parts just for you guys personally in
the in the high school building in the middle school what about this has been
really difficult obviously probably lots of things but if you had to highlight
one or two what are they for you if I would speak to the middle school middle
school is in a unique situation and that we are really we wanted to bring
kids back to school and do it in the safest way we felt possible and then
also about a third of our buildings under construction with remodel and so we
needed to still bring kids back and so half of our student body isn’t even at
school you know they’re spaced out in different places and so I think the most
difficult thing is just that our kids don’t get to see each other as much as
they would in previous years and that goes for our staff as well I think we
need to work really hard as a building to make sure that community still
happens in a place where people aren’t physically together and so thinking in
different ways that we can do that has been difficult just the logistics the
management of all that and it goes back to you know talking about allowing
people to have the freedom and just do their thing and and that’s been good but
thinking about community because that’s what a lot of school is and being
separated a lot has caused it just some difficulties that way so yeah yeah I’d
say the high school similar collaboration and community even staff
wise you know professional development how that’s been different and just the
ability to I also think at the beginning of the year when we were trying to make
a decision how to come back to school responsibly safely but getting back to
school how many different opinions on how that looked and just trying to be
respectful of everybody’s opinion but come to a decision that was best for
kids best for our staff best for our community and I just remember you know
I thought the team a group of people I felt like led well on that I thought you
know communication was good just remember our big meeting right before
the beginning of the year and I think we were patient at times you know I think
in some of this what you’ve seen is people come out right away and say this
is what we’re gonna do this what we’re gonna do and at times people are I think
sitting back taking some time to hit pause and reflect and make sure what we
do and make decisions we made as a district but I think that was that was a
difficult time sure and I echo the middle school you know they’re the most
spread out I think from creating community in each building you know how
hard that would be middle school wise because they’re in three different
locations yeah so I know both you guys put a lot of thought into leadership
strategies I know that’s important to you well as as a leader as a leadership
position not not just the school administrator stuff but from a
leadership perspective what has been a challenge in terms of you now have this
whole groups of people that you work with that are being asked to do new
things new challenges in some cases new environments new classrooms new new
places that aren’t even attached to the campus and you know some people are
energized by change they do it really well and they kind of get after it other
people in that teaching environment like constancy and like you know things to be
the way they’ve been how have you managed and what have you seen or learned
or been challenged by just in regard to trying to lead well during a time of so
much change you know I think I think you hit the nail on the head like people
handle it so differently and you have to let people handle it the way they hand
that way they handle it you know some people are grieving some people were
angry some people were but then just trying to support them in it you know I
felt like once we got back to school you know it’s all the a lot of times in that
it’s the apprehension and the uneasiness but then once it got started then I felt
like people were settled in and been really proud of how people have handled
that trying to think in the leadership piece of it yeah how do you find the
positive in a difficult situation and how do you focus on hey we get to come
back to school you know we get to have these activities yeah we have to do some
things differently you can focus on what you don’t get to do or you can try to
focus on what you get to do and I think anytime we’ve been able to stay positive
in that I feel like it’s been better moving forward more beneficial so in
that regard coach in that relational space what do you find yourself maybe
doing more of I mean clearly you’re trying to do all that stuff even pre
COVID but in this window do you find yourself more padding on the back more
office is open for some kind of venting what what how does that affect your day
to day stuff I think both and I think I’m trying to get into rooms more often
and talk to our staff and teachers I think in all this I’m talking custodial
staff coaches bus drivers all those people you just try to have
conversation and listen to them and then yeah sometimes it’s a listening to
them vent but sometimes it’s also sharing the successes that they’re
having and I do feel like there’s a lot of gratitude to be back and be back
together and have some form of normalcy but yeah I find myself trying to get out
and talk to those people as much as possible having our door open and then
trying to talk to kids you know he still have that opportunity and in lunches and
those kind of things I feel like being an activity whatever that may be music
sport whatever it’s been great to for kids just to be able to to engage in
little things so yeah I think again in school or whatever you do and it’s so
much about the people you know and so just trying to figure out that people
have a lot of stress a lot of anxiety about whether the beginning of school or
just during a school and the things that are happening outside of school and so
checking in on staff members on a regular basis and not necessarily always
just about business meaning like school business but just for them personally
emotionally and how they are doing and I think if you get out enough and see
people enough you tend to probably have a radar that can see which people need a
little bit more than others and so I think it’s been important to get out and
see those people regularly just to communicate with them to check in on
them and then putting our focus and perspective in the right place as Josh
is talking about I think our staff has been focused on the get-to and like so
thankful that we’re at school after having done the online thing completely
in the spring I think our staff was well aware that the best thing was for kids
to be back at school in the fall and I think they’re just super thankful and
they’re doing the best that they can because they know that if it doesn’t go
well we don’t want to be put in a position like we were in the spring where
kids maybe weren’t being serviced as well as they could and so I know that
our staff is doing all that they can and also understanding that the procedures
or precautions that we’ve been put in place are to make sure that we have
things as normal as we can so yeah so you guys occupy an interesting niche in
that you serve hundreds of families we live in a time where there’s a variety
of opinions about anything and everything where those opinions are
often outspoken and people feel strongly about those opinions how have you kind
of personally managed the reality that to some extent whatever you do is going
to have some significant group of people who don’t think it’s right that right
wear a mask don’t wear a mask don’t come back to school get back to school space
out the classroom don’t space out the classroom I mean there’s a sense in
which you guys can’t win if win means keep everybody happy it’s just not a
that’s not an achievable goal right now so how does that impact you personally
and from a leadership perspective in the midst of it does that make sense sure
yeah yeah yeah I think it’s difficult I mean I mean I don’t think you probably
are very few people that want to be known as the person who did that and
people are upset at so I mean thinking about you know well knowing that you’re
not going to please everybody and as you put it like a win-lose situation
coming into those situations and decisions knowing that this decision
isn’t this decision isn’t a win-lose decision because ultimately there are
going to be people who are gonna be really happy about the decision and some
people who are not going to be really happy about the decision and then in the
end as far as school perspective goes like what’s best for kids and putting
that always as you know probably our primary goal is what’s best for kids but
you need to also communicate you know upfront like hey these are the things
that we’re thinking about whether it be a staff decision decision that’s gonna
you know affect our community obviously being transparent through that stuff
gathering as much data as you possibly can to make the right decision but yeah
it’s hard and I don’t think anybody really wants to be known as the guy or
the the leader that made a decision that made half the people or a certain number
of people really upset about it so yeah and you know typically you rarely hear
from the people who are happy you generally hear from the people who
aren’t and I know even from the football experience Josh we had moments where
maybe a certain policy or rule didn’t make a hundred percent sense but it’s
the hoop you have to jump through to do what you want I would assume there’s
dozens of those from a school perspective also yeah you know I think
exactly what you’re saying I feel like we felt like what was best for kids
was to be back in school and so then as a leadership team in a group it was
like how do we do that in a safe and responsible way and you have people
out you know on the end of the spectrum we don’t want to go back we should be
all fully online so we want to be back just like it was before and and we just
had to try to like Terry said take as much data and as many people involved
in that and listen to as many people as you can know knowing fully well that
you’re not gonna make everybody happy that’s difficult but I think it’s been I
think fortunate now to be able to reflect back that we’ve had a positive
year you know the school’s been able to go in place without a lot of you know
and so it pleased with that you know it could have been really difficult if we
would have gone back and things would you know then we would have had to
transition a lot and and I feel like once we made those decisions even people
on each side were I feel like we found a pretty middle ground you know I mean
that people were at least positive we were moving forward and going back and
really it’s been challenging but also I feel like looking back on it it probably
went as smoothly as it is it could I’m grateful for the way that it played out
I mean obviously we would all probably want to be not doing it the way we’re
doing it now but I think it’s gone as well as we possibly could have expected
it to go in light of the situation so yeah so from a personal standpoint it is
there something as you as you reflect on the last year and whether it be your
career the role that you have at the school or just in general is there
something you feel like you’ve learned or has there been a challenge that you
feel like has been important or that you’re continuing to work through is
there something as you consider maybe the things that you want to take
forward from this experience as we all hopefully begin to kind of crawl out
from under it what does that look like for you guys there anything you just
personally that you think no this has been challenging but ultimately may be
helpful yeah from a personal standpoint I would say that it has been a
challenge in that you know I want to be better than what I was prior to this and
I think that you know oftentimes grow the most and difficult and challenging
situations and there’s no doubt that that’s what this has been and so you
know just just the way that you treat each other on the respect that you need
to bring each day to decisions that you make because lots of people have lots of
different opinions right now and so I think having that healthy balance in
life as far as you know how to communicate to people effectively
respectfully listening to others taking the time you know I think a lot of us
would probably say it back in the spring I heard a lot of people’s opinions that
the whole COVID thing allowed them to slow down a little bit and have maybe
supper at home a little bit more with their kids or their families and so I
think those things were important for a lot of people and it is something I
think that we can expand on just you know taking some time both individually
personally to think about faith think about you know a purpose and and what
we do that’s best for others so yeah I hope that I myself as a leader has have
haven’t grown through this whole experience so yeah I think from a
personal standpoint I think the most challenging thing for me is having
parents that have some health risks and so then you don’t arguing my kids don’t
get this interact with most things the relational connection thing I even
carry that over in a school like the simple things of like we’d have a high
five Friday or football the things I enjoyed as a coach is the time we could
sit in the locker room after a game with 60 guys in close quarters and talking
and like that how much of that adds value and how we try to find ways to do
that differently and you do but it’s not the same and and so I think for me it’s
made me appreciate those things that that just seemed normal I mean I mean
like you just took for I don’t take for granted everybody says that but and I’m
excited that that gets back to a point and then yeah I called Terry like just
reflective a leader how do you get better every year in school and how are
we gonna move forward to make things better but yeah it’s been that’s
probably been the biggest challenge what’s interesting is the interplay
between your answers on the on the one hand I think all of us maybe have
sacrificed some stuff that we we maybe don’t miss like super full calendars and
going to meetings and some of those things it’s like I could probably live
with a little less of that on the other hand we’ve lost some things that we we
truly do miss you know the relational stuff being able to be with people and
and some of those things a full gym and high five Fridays and so what do you
guys look forward to and what do you hope we go back to or I guess maybe
another way to say it is what have you missed the most again either personally
obviously family time but in regard to your your school positions as well yeah
I think for me it’s just the yeah they connect like this the high fives the
coming up and in patent up somebody on the back just that physical connection
of the encouragement piece of it what that brings to it coming to church and
seeing people shaking hands that you know I even like when you wear masks in
a grocery store what I think it creates is it causes you to say hi less and have
less communication just those daily things that I just look forward to
something the mask is a big deal but I just it’s a barrier and you know to not
have that barrier to connection and relationship is what I guess I’m most
excited about you know simple things in school having graduation having prom
those things as markers for people in their in their you know in their year
those moments thing I love about school is this the newness and the the marker
stones that you maybe we haven’t had and just looking forward to that that piece
of it again of of getting those getting to do those things so yeah yeah he used
the I was thinking and he said the word is barriers being able to drop some of
the barriers that we put in place during this time that we just maybe had to and
when I think about barriers a lot of it is in relation to like connection with
people and so you know you you have the the physical barrier you know we want to
try to keep people distanced away from each other kids desks are all six feet
apart and staff members are kind of distance from kids physically and so
going back to removing some of those barriers you know if just locational
barriers like seventh graders eighth graders are away from each other away
from school campus the mask is kind of a physical barrier so just removing those
barriers to bring people closer together so I think a lot of people even though
things have been have been okay I’ve been good at school thanks to people are
missing those personal connections through the barriers that we’ve put in
place to make sure that people are safe physically so it’s an it’s an
interesting you know the impact that a school has on a community probably are
genuinely aware of that you know in a normal time but in this moment as a kind
of outsider you know had a child in the school at when this all started but not
currently but I think that sense of normalcy for people of being able to
send kids to school both some of managing the chaos and stress on the
kids ends as well as the parent ends but that the the ability and the hoops that
you guys had to jump through and the teachers and all of that to be willing
to work that out I do think that has had a significantly positive aspect on the
community you know we we have connections in places in other places
where kids aren’t back to school yet and and I think that adds a layer of stress
a layer of uncertainty it stresses everybody out it makes everybody tired
you know we we have friends who are still trying to do the home school thing
and they’re nearly a year in they’re not loving it and so I think probably
whether you hear it or not I think most people would be genuinely grateful that
we’ve been willing to try and navigate the the challenges of doing that because
I think that is something as simple as not needing childcare you know for
parents to be able to go to work in a time when that’s important and so yeah
it’s I hope you guys at some level hear the affirmation of people who are
grateful that that we’re doing it that way anything else there’s anything as
you think about the challenges at school or other you get both have families at
home young young kids navigating all that just anything else that is that is
in your mind as you reflect on your experience yeah just thinking about
focus and perspective and being thankful to be together for a family spent part
you know having four kids that are all in the school system and a wife that
teaches in the school and so you know we’re fully invested in the school in
our community in our church and all the things that people have done to make it
as normal as we possibly could the work that you and Michael are doing at church
has been has been great for us and it’s a family I think community as well so
thankful for you guys and thankful for the other people who have put in so much
time and effort during this whole thing to to make people feel as close to each
other as we possibly could even in a situation that’s really tough and
stressful and lots of people have anxiety for but we’re just thankful for
the surrounding community and the people that we get to be close to so yeah yeah
we live in we are fortunate by where we live in lots of ways but the freedom to
navigate some of this which at times I’m sure is frustrating because it leaves
ambiguity but at other times has been really
nice to have the freedom to sort
things out and I know that and I don’t mean it and I know that that’s not the
same for every community and not the same experience for everyone and I know
that everyone’s situations are different we’re just thankful for the place that
we’re at and and we’re just probably lucky and that’s okay we understand that
piece but but thankful at the same time for all those things that have happened
for us yeah I mean something as simple as being able to have a football season
you know and and the number of states or the number of places that didn’t get to
do that and so not just from this the perspective of guys who enjoy coaching
but for the kids who didn’t have to give up their senior seasons and things like
that yeah I’d project that cool coach said just grateful the gratitude of you
know just when it first started happened in March how many people were willing to
donate money to help with school lunch stuff huge gifts from businesses in the
area to get technology that in the hands of everybody that rallying of people
coming together that’s always really cool and exciting you know from a
family standpoint reflect back we’ll always have those couple months like
where we really really intentional as a family you know we we stayed separate as
a unit outside being active together doing things that really everything
slowed down you know no dance practice no nothing you know for family we were
together a lot and that was we’re gonna look back on that as a there’s a time of
of a joy you know I mean even though we would miss those other things just
grateful and equitary you know church you know the intentionality that we
haven’t been here physically but every day we can connect with our church
community and that’s a huge credit to you Michael the Dows everybody involved
with that that I felt like I was still connected you know I mean and that that
took a lot of effort and work and I feel like school wise to the teachers that my
son my son and daughter had did a phenomenal job of connecting with them
not just from an academic standpoint from a personal standpoint and doing
simple things of dropping books off of the house and all those things I’ll be
thankful for that they were intentional about investing in people and so it’s
been a difficult time but it’s also a time where I can really reflect and
seeing some really cool things from people yeah that’s well said coach
because we we all miss you know Pete tonight on Friday or we almost go into a
movie but what’s behind that I think for most people is that they’ve learned the
value or how much they miss relationships I mean it really and and
the ability to be thankful even amidst adversity by trying to find those things
to celebrate and to be grateful for you
know that yeah we all miss stuff but I
what we what we really miss is that freedom to get past those barriers and
connect with loved ones and say hello at the grocery store and whatever that
looks like and hopefully we’ll be moving back to that soon but and until
then we appreciate the work you guys have done on behalf of the community and
appreciate you coming in to have this conversation this is it’s good I hope I
think this be helpful for people so appreciate it