Balance--Resilience--Faith @sarahsajohnson

“Still I Rise” Maya Angelou Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. If you were to run through my Twitter feed for the past several years, you would see a succession of gorgeous sunrises. It is no secret that I love them. They inspire me. I have recorded them. Cried watching them. Sang at the top of my lungs and in whispers in their presence. Lifted my arms in praise for the gift, and bent down in prayer below them when life overwhelmed me. I find sunrises to be a miracle couched within the mundane of life. Unlike many of my well-respected colleagues, I have never engaged with the One Word process before. Admittedly, that stems directly to what 2017 was all about for me. Though I never selected the word for last year, my 2017 word was clearly RESTORE. The past four months specifically have been focused on restoring my spirit to a space it belongs, and there is a whole transformation that I have undergo

Thursday prior to break for students and staff, our student services team met to discuss student concerns as we do each week. Amidst the bustle of holiday concerts, final day rallies, and 12 Days of Christmas (yes, it is not culturally inclusive, and I plan to do better) for my staff, we sat in a haze together. I could feel the hot tears forming and the tightening of my throat listening to the details of pain that our students were experiencing. I had no idea. Of course there are the handful of students that I am constantly checking in with who are suffering more than usual this time of year. However, the details from a new handful of students were unexpected. Severe. A mom reporting they may need to flee in the middle of the night. A student hardly able to stay at school, concerned because of an imminent eviction. Whispers of another who had lost his home and is couch surfing. Too many more details too personal and identifiable if I type too much here for the small community I serve.