Karen Huffman

The first week at my new job was quite the humbling experience. While I’ve spent the last few years accepting part-time content development contracts and substituting at various schools, this past week marked my first time working in a full-time capacity since having children

Because we currently live in an area that schedules Spring Break around Easter, our week-long vacation from school and regular life is extra late this year. A handful of years ago, Clay and I vowed to make every attempt to pack a suitcase and physically leave during Spring Break if our schedule allows. While neither one of us were into the traditional Spring Break scene during our college years, we appreciate the mental reset that escaping home can provide this time of year. My parents will be meeting us there towards the end of our stay and watching the kids for a night while Clay and I escape to the Casa Monica Resort and Spa in St. Augustine, Florida.

The Jefferson Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, and the cherry blossoms all surround the tidal basin in Washington DC. Back at the turn of the century, First Lady Helen Taft became enamored with Japanese cherry trees when visiting Japan when her husband (future President Howard Taft) was the governor-general of the Philippines. Soon after her husband became President, she received a letter from Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore from the National Geographic Society, who wished to transform the tidal basin by planting cherry trees. But after Yukio Ozaki, the mayor of Tokyo, met with Fairchild, a second shipment of trees was organized and described as a memorial of national friendship between Japan and the United States.

I wasn’t sure if I should talk about how a vetted and trusted employee of the after-school care program was arrested and charged with multiple accounts of aggravated sexual battery against children. I didn’t know if I’d be able to accurately describe the horror I felt when reading the initial email sent on Friday morning and the subsequent emails that followed. I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to discuss how staring at the mug shot of the vile human my children high-fived more times than they can recall continues to prompt waves of nausea. And the police are continuing to encourage parents to talk to their children and report any ‘odd’ encounter they may have had with the man who would bring his guitar into the school and teach many aspiring musicians how to play.