Yes, thank goodness. Soaks have been heavenly. So much car drama. Won’t know anything till Wednesday.

It feels like flu, but I’m not certain I’ve ever had true flu. Could easily be “flu like illness.” It’s nasty though, and I’m miserable, and I really need to be better by Monday.

I tested but second one was a rapid and pretty early into it. I dunno.

It’s been a crappy week. In addition to Helen and all that drama, Tuesday night I was freezing all night. My husband kept saying it was 77, and I kept saying I had no reason to be cold, but I put on a sweater and took a hot shower. I got several high heart rate notifications on my watch while I slept, and I woke up Wednesday and knew I was sick. Body aches, chills, exhaustion. I had covid like exactly a month ago, so reasonably sure it’s not that. Honestly, no idea where this comes from because not really any sick kids in my class. I make it through preschool and leave planning to go home and go to bed, but while backing up, car loses all power and even emergency brake won’t activate at first. I physically jump out and grab car to keep it from rolling ina group of kids or another car. Emergency brake eventually kicks in but car is not exactly in a spot at that point. Insurance isn’t answering phone because of hurricane damage. After unsuccessfully jumping the car, we find a tow truck to tow it to dealer, and my in laws drive me home. I feel lousy. Stayed home Thursday and Friday. Temp was briefly 101.6 range, but mostly in the 99-100. My head hurts. I keep shivering and my body hurts. No cough or congestion. I have less than no energy. My appetite is gone and I’m a bit queasy. This is too late to ba covid relapse, right? I assume it’s some bug, but I just can’t get comfortable. I’m exhausted but I can’t sleep. I just ache and feel lousy and can’t get comfortable enough to sleep, and it’s miserable. Maybe I should not have napped today? I dunno. I’ve tried showering and moisturizing and eating a couple crackers. Any thoughts on what to do to feel better enough to sleep?

Seconding meds. We started right around her fifth birthday. Best parenting decision we made. Wish we’d made it about two years earlier. Pre pubertal kids often respond to ssri’s way faster than teens or adults, sometimes within a day or two.

I would argue local school districts telling teachers they aren't allowed to use books (because controversy) and also state standards that explicitly call out teaching novels as old school and that they are supposed to be teaching short informational text. I just realized that my current college freshman never wrote a term paper since sixth grade. She entered public school in 7th.

Up until now, people (myself included) have sorta kinda joked, but also pretty seriously said that the Blue Ridge Mountains are perfect and one of the safest places to live in an era of climate change. We aren’t on any major earthquake faults. We are largely shielded from tornadoes. We have never had to worry about hurricanes. Don’t have the wildfire issues that the West does. Far enough south that blizzards are rare, but elevation and location means even with climate change, we’re in a better spot than many other places. I mean, I freaking hate the word unprecedented, and plagues are one of the most precedented events ever, but this hurricane really is unprecedented. It sucks, but yeah, comparing recovery efforts to Florida just aren’t really comparable. The roads are such that even under the best of circumstances, it can take 15 minutes to drive somewhere you can see is very close by, because mountains dictate where roads go.

I swear it didn't show up like this when I was trying to copy it... I'm so embarassed!

I'm so sorry. I can't even fix it by deleting. This is awful.

Okay, apparently I cannot copy and paste this because it's a horrible formatted mess. I'm sorry. Arg!!!! Education Illustration by Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva October 1, 2024, 7:30 AM ET Share as Gift Save This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. Education Illustration by Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva October 1, 2024, 7:30 AM ET Share as Gift Save Education

I found out today that one of the 3 year olds in my class was in Asheville over the weekend and saw dead bodies floating around. They'd gone for a wedding and only were able to get out because an elderly couple gave them $40 cash for gas. You also have to understand, there wasn't a lot of warning that it was going to hit western North Carolina, which is not exactly a hurricane prone area. I mean, I know theoretically we should all have several weeks or months worth of supplies, but I don't know how that works when we aren't allowed to get meds enough in advance to build up even a week's worth of supplies, let alone months worth. Nobody was prepared for a hurricane here because hurricanes don't generally hit mountains 300 miles from the beach. Derechos? Blizzards? Roanoke has done a lot of work in flood mitigation, because we have had floods, but we have a river running through the city.

There’s been a shift in behavior of kids at preschool in the last ten years or so, too. It’s not good.

I totally agree with you on consideration! I also think that the conflation of gentle parenting with no boundaries does increase kids “acting up,” and it’s a real issue. But, people aren’t complaining about children misbehaving or throwing tantrums. They are mad that children EXIST. They do not even want to see children. I hear the word disgusting even. Frankly, I am incredibly glad I’m not having children now, because the attitude towards them is kinda scarily hostile, even in places like churches. When my kids were little, I used to say that the closest I’ll ever be to being a rock star was being part of a young couple with kids in a church. Now people audibly groan when a family with kids sits down.