Another inclement weather day
Thursday, February 11th was day 87 of the pandacademic year and our second inclement weather day of 2021. Not meeting in-person seemed like a given given the temperature, wind, and rain in the forecast the night before, and that morning it was still just as bad. There is a saying that there is not such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. Nonetheless, we are not going to bank on Learners dressing appropriately for the extreme (for Texas) weather and risk the safety of Learners.
Facilitator Ariel started the morning meeting at 10:00 a.m. with the agenda, then he went over the practices, and then he opened it up for announcements. One of the Learners said that she had an appointment with a nutritionist and was about to embark on a healthier path, but that she could really use some support. Facilitator Lauren then followed up with her throughout the day and let her know that she would be happy to support her in that.
For game shifting Facilitator Ariel said we would respond using pass the ball, and then with the cold weather as inspiration, each person described their warm dream vacation spot: a clearing in the woods with a rock where I can soak up the warm sun; a cabin in the woods, but I’m inside with warm blankets, hot drinks, and snuggling with people and pets; Cinque Terra or Capri in the summer; a cabin in the mountains; Canada; the beach; Svalbard; a far right island in Belize (I asked for clarification and she said she meant far east, and not far right as in political orientation); a cabin in the woods in the winter or Italy in the summer; a tropical beach house with a big pool; at home (because vacations are over priced). That seems like a lot of not warm vacation spots.
High fives after the workout
After the morning meeting we had four one-to-one check-ins with adolescent Learners among the three Facilitators. Then we moved into the 7-min workout where the usual crew came together to struggle through a workout as we were still coming to terms with the 45-minute workout an adolescent Learner led us through the prior afternoon. But we did it, and we celebrated with virtual high fives.
Comic book reading
Facilitator Ariel then moved into his comic book reading offering where an adolescent Learner joined him again so they could pick up where they left off last week. Another Learner dropped in, but then dropped out.
Meanwhile, I had my free write offering with a Learner I had a one-to-one check-in with after the morning meeting. During that call I let the Learner know that I was reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, and I felt that she had a similar writing style to L’Engle. I asked her if she had ever read the book, or any of her other books, and the Learner said she had. But then she said that they were not that similar as the Learner’s writing was much scarier than L’Engles. Then we talked about writing styles for a bit. Well in the free write the Learner went back to work on the book she is writing.
I then took off to take my partner to the pharmacy to get the Covid-19 vaccine as they are in group 1B. Meanwhile, Facilitator Ariel moved into his coffee and read offering while Facilitator Lauren moved into her yoga offering. As happens too often during this unfortunate remote experience, Learners did not show up for the offerings. But we will continue to hold space for them until nature finally allows us to be in-person again.
Facilitator Lauren had a one-to-one check-in with an adolescent Learner that lasted only a couple of minutes, while Facilitator Ariel had a one-hour check-in with another adolescent Learner. As with everything else, Learners have different needs when it comes to communicating with Facilitators. Too many check-ins feel too short, and we miss being in-person because of the more ample and more effortless ways that we can interact with the Learners, but we absolutely love it when a Learner wants to sit and chat with us for an hour.
Meanwhile, at the pharmacy I asked if there was a waitlist in case there were cancellations or extra doses left over, and they put me on it. In Texas, people who qualify under 1B get priority for the shots, but they are not supposed to throw doses away if there are no more 1B qualified people available for shots. They will then use the waitlist to get shots in arms, still prioritizing 1B first, which ultimately benefits everyone. I let the other Facilitators know that I was on the waitlist and would stick around in case they had extra doses, and that I would miss the afternoon roundup. At the end of the shift there was one other person waiting around in case there were unused doses, and they had exactly two doses left. With the shot, I also got scheduled for the booster shot in a month, and now 33% of Abrome Facilitators are vaccinated!
I missed the afternoon roundup because of more fortunate vaccination situation. In the afternoon roundup Facilitator Lauren explained what the five love languages are according to Gary Chapman’s book by that name: words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, physical touch. Each person in the meeting then shared what was one of their love languages, and some deviated from the available options: talking on the phone, physical touch, physical touch and words of affirmation, acts of service, gift giving, quality time and acts of service. Two people said I don’t know. Then each shared a way someone in their house best receives love: snuggles with dog, words of affirmation, acts of service for my mom and physical touch for my dad, petting dog, quality time with parents, dog pets, sister (who is also at Abrome) getting a whooping (a bad joke that did not go over well), words of affirmation.
The ice coated tree outside of Abrome
I got back to Abrome after the remote inclement weather day ended. As I had to drive well over an hour away, I did not know quite how bad the weather in Austin was that day. It did not take me long to realize that it was pretty bad. Everything was covered in a layer of ice—the roads, pavements, grass, trees. It was certainly a good call to cancel the in-person meet up that day.