Ahhh, year 2020. You have been a doozy. You have brought us a pandemic. You have brought us social unrest. You have brought us still spaces to notice where all of the dust is hiding. We are exhausted, 2020. None of us want to wish our lives away, but I’ll just go ahead and speak for everyone when I say that we wouldn’t mind you speeding the rest of this year up a bit.
And yet, something about the quarantine shut-down brought peace in places we didn’t know we needed. I’m a School Counselor by trade, and it has taken me almost four months to even begin processing the abrupt shut-down of schools and rapid movement to home practices. Due to a long-standing family trait, I often tell people “I have to stay busy or I get into trouble.” And so I did. I rearranged, cleaned, painted, and refinished things. I cooked all of the breads and grew all of the plants. I even wrote a book on student trauma for publication with Free Spirit Publishing.
Eventually, as I waited for the school year to start, I ran out of things to busy myself with. Once I was left alone with my thoughts, two amazing things happened. First, I found a great therapist and begged her to get me through this international pandemic in one mindful piece. Then, my brother called me and asked if I would like to start a non-profit foundation in honor of our late Aunt Chatsy. I was in before he even finished the sentence.
Being that neither of us are capable of allowing things to unfold slowly, we dove into our new venture with Olympic precision. Websites, plans, mentors, and family announcements brought us to a place where I’ll Go Too became a reality. It’s amazing to think of our beloved aunt living through an actual organization that represents her same resilience, heart, and unending passion.
I have a million ideas of ways we can bring to life all of the dreams we shared with our aunt, from advocacy to scholarships for students with disabilities, to grants for more inclusive campuses, to better accessibility in our cities. I am beyond excited, and I can feel her with every inspired thought.
I don’t know what these next few months days will bring, but I know that I have learned that timing is a funny thing. During one of the most difficult years in history, I could have never anticipated that I would find an emotional freedom in the stillness. Had my brother asked me last year to partner for this project, I would have likely given lackluster interest and little contemplation. It wasn’t until the moment he asked me that I was able to share a space again with my aunt, who I miss and think of every day. She was such a huge representation of hope for myself and my family that for some time after not having her physical friendship anymore, I found I had lost my own.
Maybe it is the natural grieving process, maybe it was the hidden gem of 2020, maybe it was the absence of my students driving me to continue being a helper—whatever it is, I am ready now. Thank you for taking this journey with us, and for helping us call the spirit of this amazing woman to continue stirring compassion and inspiration in our world. Who’s ready to get going?
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