As I remember how to type and to blog, welcome back to the 2021 blogosphere! It has been a long time since I wrote something like this.
Life feels like we are surfing. I know that is a foreign term for Mid-Westerners, especially as we experience drought-like conditions this summer. Everything right now is coming in waves.
I have never gone surfing, but I imagine that there is a lot of falling down and getting back up and trying again. Sometimes you just get wet when you fall. Sometimes you get bruised. Welcome to the almost two years of COVID management. We have spent a lot of time getting up on our surf board and falling over. Right now, we feel like we are intermediate surfers unlike when COVID began where we were actually still learning how to swim.
We are thankful to our members, child care families, program participants, and the community for your patience as we have navigated these waters and figured out how to move the organizations forward. Each decision over the last period of time has been made thoughtfully, and while not everyone would agree with every decision we have made, it was made in the best interest of our community. And we are thankful for the grace that many of our members have provided to us during these times.
We are thankful to our team of staff who have stepped to the plate in more ways than are publicly seen. They have cleaned without complaint. They have greeted people with smiling eyes since masks have covered our faces. They have welcomed returning members like long lost members of the family. They have cared for kids and provided socially distanced hugs and support. They have tried to make life normal when everything has been working against them. And, they too have done so with grace.
Who knows when the next big wave is coming. It might be COVID. It could be something else. All of us just need to keep getting up onto that board and riding the wave.
Cowabunga Dude!
See you at the Y!
Steve Smith, President