Breaking Boundaries

Last week I used email to reach out to school families, but I rarely heard back. Several days ago we were given the code *67 to use for making phone calls to parents from our personal or home phones in order to preserve our privacy. But since then I am realizing that not everyone returns calls that have no ID or phone number attached to them. That realization has led me to be a little less protective of my privacy, under our changing circumstances.

In the past, school was school and home was home. I did my best to keep the two realms of my life separate from each other. There was a certain balance to my day that I did not want to upset by bringing too much home. Better to just stay late on occasion. But now I find myself checking a colleague's Canvas page at 11:00pm because he's in the ICU with a family member and he has to work when he's got the opportunity. As he troubleshoots, I text my feedback. We brainstorm, and we problem solve. Or it's 5:00pm and I'm texting with a mother who works all day and can't get back to me until after work hours. Or I'm relaying MiFi troubleshooting tips to a student via his mother on her lunch break.

At first this straining of the my heretofore strict boundaries was very stress-inducing. But now I realize that working this way, from home and in the era of Covid 19, has to be more fluid if it is to be worthwhile. Slowly I've adjusted to having several video conferences one day and none the next. If I need to stop working to help my son get some of his work going, I stop and help him. If the Randolph PTA needs volunteers to help with outdoor Food Pantry distribution on Friday afternoons, I step up. When an email asks for help in printing and distributing flyers for the Arlington Community Coalition in an effort to reach elderly neighbors and shut-ins, that's what I do.

There is no rhythm to my days anymore. Just trial and error. Ebb and flow. The lines between home and work are blurry, but my vision is getting clearer.