Tuesday, June 11, 2019

What a Weekend: Wellesley, Wear Orange and DanceNastics

At Boston's Wear Orange Day
This past weekend ALL the things converged! Was it like that for you too? I had 3 annual events on my calendar: Wellesley's reunion, Moms Demand Action's Wear Orange Day and my daughter's dance recital. 

It was a lot so when I woke up Sunday early evening after a 3 hour nap it truly felt like a dream that I had made it (SUCCESSFULLY!) to the other side of all of those big events.

I'm deeply affected by sunshine so when I saw the forecast called for sun all weekend here in Boston it immediately made me feel like I was one step ahead of the game!

It made all the difference...

Wellesley's Reunion



While it wasn't my reunion year, I showed up for the 2nd year in a row as part of Wellesley Racial Justice Initiative - a volunteer collective of alumnae working to end racism. We had two events scheduled for reunion weekend including an Opening Conversation about race on Friday and my Sunday interview with fellow alum Dr. Crystal Marie Fleming '04, author of How to Be Less Stupid About Race (a must read BTW). 


Via Dr. Fleming's Instagram, @alwaystherealself

Both events were engaging and well attended with thoughtful conversation inspiring us as alums to return to our hometowns to continue to carry on the work of racial justice.  

It was also Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton's reunion years and they graced the stage for a joint interview with Wellesley College President Paula Johnson. You can catch the inspiring re-play here and below:




Wear Orange Day

Nia stands beside Attorney General Maura Healy and other local officials including Mayor Walsh (photo via WBZ - TV)
While Boston's annual event was on Saturday, communities came together nationwide for Wear Orange Weekend with Friday being National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Orange is worn in honor of Hadiya Pendleton, a Chicagoan who was gunned down at the age of 15. Our community event included a Poetry Slam and I signed Nia up to share a poem she wrote to honor the day:




I also took to the stage to share about the On The Shoulders of Giants Event I attended in February and the work I do here in my Boston chapter as Community Outreach Lead. 



We couldn't have Wear Orange Day without food: there were hot dogs, hamburgers, salad and lots of cake too. Grayson bypassed all the food and opted to maximize his jumping in the bounce house and watching the basketball tournament! #priorities


Photo via Moms Demand Action - MA
DanceNastics Recital



Ahhhh dance recital season...a few weeks ago Nia's teacher came to me distraught that Nia had opted herself out of the recital that was about a month away at the time. It was news to me too! We worked it out, but came to the agreement that this is indeed her last year of dance. 

Three years is a great run - each of her teachers have given her such praise and begged me to encourage her to continue. The same thing happened to us with piano and cheerleading in the past as well. Somehow Nia excels in most things we let her try, but she's also very clear when she's had her fill of an activity. 

It's hard for me as a parent to watch her go through this, but I try my best to fully appreciate her performances and find ways to best support her as she moves on. 



She absolutely crushed her DanceNastics performance BTW! 

What's next? I revisited my 2019 post and it looks like I'm on track with some exciting things in the pipeline. Afrobella's quote from that post about not sharing what might happen in preference what has happened is guiding me! I have a few things I'm working on that I cannot wait to share. While I try my best to be patient, I have Puerto Rico and my 10th anniversary celebration on the brain. It's just a few short weeks away!