Here is a favorite photo from a favorite place, Alaska. I always wanted to visit that cold, snowy state and expressed that desire frequently enough for my husband to grant my wish. We celebrated our 30th anniversary with an Alaskan cruise and land tour and returned to Alaska for our 36th anniversary.
Along the way, I learned that Alaska is not necessarily cold or snowy. Abundant flowers thrive during summer months. When my husband and I canoed to Davidson Glacier and walked where it had receded, I wore a lightweight hoodie, not the down jacket I had planned.
Long before Alaska, I sat in my eighth-grade American history class in North Carolina and dreamed about visiting Washington, D.C.. I especially wanted to see the Capitol and the White House.
Along the way, I learned that I would visit D.C monthly, sometimes weekly. My family received the blessing of two personal, unhurried tours of the White House. May 2023 marked my thirty-second year living in our D.C suburb.
What was best about Alaska and D.C? Having deep longings unexpectedly come true and be better than imagined.
During the sixteen years of homeschooling my sons from kindergarten through twelfth grade—and even more years of parenting—I experienced similar joys. However, there were painful days when I experienced much of the opposite. Significant parenting and homeschool longings didn’t come true as expected—even after I had researched carefully and sought both heavenly and earthly advice.
During the years educating my children—and others’ children in five different homeschool co-ops—I had insights I wish I had known earlier.
After my youngest graduated from high school, my county school system hired me to review state-required student portfolios of homeschoolers. The moms I met during those years invited me to speak to their support groups. I told all—well, almost all—of the family business. (Which is why I use a pseudonym.) Return invitations impressed on me the universal truths contained in my experiences and the need to share them more broadly. Thank you for the opportunity.