What is the supermarket test, you ask? Well, the supermarket is where I have spent the most time during the pandemic, with the exception of my own house. If the parameters of buying food weekly are acceptable, then anything better than those parameters should also be acceptable. I ask myself the following: Is the activity indoors or outdoors (the most important factor in my decision-making)? Am I able to socially distance? How long will the activity last? If I am putting myself at equal or lesse

And then, my own county commissioner wrote a divisive diatribe pulled out of the playbook, employing rhetoric that usually felt far enough away from Cheltenham. But this reminded me that far-away hatred is in fact close to home — dangerously close. My thoughts began to race as it hit me: My Blackness isn’t wanted here. Our country is broken. Will my babies ever truly … breathe?

2. In this new reality, the lines between home and work are blurred, possibly forever. Kids are no longer just a picture on a desk. They are real people in our workspaces. Their background sounds, interruptions, and attention they require are no more “unprofessional” than the buzz of the doorbell for a delivery, a call from a client during a staff meeting, or coworker Joe sticking his head through the door to tell you about his golf outing.

My experience working in an organizational development firm, while running a catering business, came in handy. I realized that I needed to run our pod like a mini-organization — because that’s exactly what it is. We were overwhelmed and miserable, when the point was for all of us to be happier and for the kids to learn effectively. Then it hit me: Humans aren’t wired for confusion and uncertainty. No one knows what to do, because this is all new. We don’t know when it is time to be a parent, a t