Update From Nina

Dear ones,

It is Monday, January 4th, 2021. School is back in session, if not back in person. People are back to the office, even if the office is their couch. Christmas decorations are getting packed away, trees are getting taken down, the last Christmas cookies and New Year’s bubbly have been consumed, and it is January. Even though January is both my birthday month AND my youngest daughter’s birthday month, it is not my favorite. It is bitterly cold, Christmas is done, it gets dark early. Plus, when I was a kid, Plymouth took the whole month of January off from Wednesday evening programming, so January was a lonely month, when I missed seeing my closest friends. I would guess that many of us are feeling many emotions as we enter January 2021–hope and excitement for a COVID vaccine, joy over the arrival of DeWayne and Kareem into our Plymouth family, anticipation for Inaugeration Day, loneliness and exhaustion from 10 months of social distancing, questions around returning to school, sports, activities, etc. and so many more. It feels like we need extra big bags, and extra strong shoulders, to hold all the emotions that we are carrying. I choose the tweet from Lin-Manuel Miranda above (part of his daily GMorning and Gnight tweets) because it feels so universal. Not a single one of us is holding a feeling that only belongs to us. Whatever you are feeling, and however many feelings you are holding, someone else (most likely many someones) is carrying the same load. It doesn’t always make it easier, but it makes it less lonely.

Parents/grandparents/caregivers–as the pandemic continues, it is important to me that the programming we are offering for children and young people continues to evolve to meet their needs. We want to ensure that our programming is helpful and life-giving for your family during these ever-evolving times. Please take a moment to complete these surveys for your household, so we can best serve your family. Please do the survey for each child in that age group, especially if your children’s needs are different. For example, a family with 3 children under grade 5 should take the Children’s survey 3 separate times, once per child. This will give us the most accurate data, since siblings are not automatically monoliths, just because they reside in the same home.