April 3, 2021

You Can Never Hold Back Spring

Spring has arrived on schedule, heedless of the virus. Here in St. Louis, home gardeners have cleverly outwaited the last overnight frosts and are springing to action. On cue, vaccinations are expanding at a faster pace than first predicted. Schools that have operated remotely all year are returning to campus, and all are permitting themselves to envision next fall with the aspects of school life we once took for granted and now long for: parents walking young children onto campus, lingering to chat with friends and faculty, rushing off to work (something other than a tiny kitchen table kingdom, many hope), athletic contests, the school musical, everyone returning home late in the afternoon, genuinely, healthily exhausted from a day well spent. The soft light of nostalgia has obscured the forgotten lunches, the Saturday 6:00A departure for the distant away game, the glacier of laundry creeping toward the weekend. But away, grumpy thoughts! It's time to think ahead, and in this edition of Ahead in the Count, you'll find some thoughts on strategic planning in the context of the pandemic, and a timely piece on approaching the predictably frenetic end of the school year with a measure of grace.