But when it’s literally your job, you (me) get really, really comfortable not just talking about elephants in rooms, but advocating for help. Advocating for change at a systemic level. And most days, just plain advocating. And while I realize this really is a blog about motherhood, working, the chaos that comes with life, and that life changing cup of morning coffee, I wouldn’t be true to who I am, how I’m wired, and what I believe part of my purpose in this life is - hoping for and actually working towards true change with people and in systems - if I didn’t also write about these things. So let’s talk about hope and the elephant in the room.  

For the first 18 years of my adult working career, I worked in the education field. I started out teaching in a portable trailer classroom in Clearwater, Florida in the 9th Grade Academy at Countryside High School. It was amazing and I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. That was the year that I learned so much about education, public schools, and how incredible students are. CHS was not perfect - no school (public, private, or charter) is. But what I really learned was how much the little things matter.

One of the reasons I started writing here at Just Chaos and Coffee was to share pieces of my story around my experience with burnout the last few years. Truthfully, this is the stuff I don’t want to write about. It’s not funny, although I know myself and I’ll try to make it humorous because that’s how I cope. It’s uncomfortable for me because I’m choosing to be vulnerable in a way that’s new for me.

I am not, most assuredly, energetic all the time. I also don’t drink coffee just for the caffeine. Let’s get into why I named my blog “Just Chaos and Coffee”! The Chaos part is kind of self-explanatory. The coffee part, maybe not so much…

Much of what I want to share today isn’t all my story to tell. Our child, who has a dual diagnosis of Autism and ADHD (often seen as AuDHD), is old enough for me to want to protect and honor that this is their life - their story - that they get to tell in their own time, if they choose to. But what I can and will share are a few things that the last 7 years of parenting our kiddo, advocating to change systems instead of changing our child, fighting (hard, at times) for support to leverage the field of education have taught me. And what I wish RFK, Jr had used his considerable influence to focus on instead. 

If I had a dollar for every time someone has told me, “you really should write a book”, I could almost retire. Well, maybe not quite yet, but at least take a really nice vacation! I’m not ready to write a book, but after the last few (checks notes: actually, 10) years of managing a growing career, side business, family, and just plain life (throw in a pandemic, a move, growing family, health challenges, the list goes on), honestly, I just hit a wall.