Next month we’ll be taking our first RV road trip as a family as a trial run to determine if purchasing an RV in the future might actually be something we consider. As a family, we love camping, exploring, and adventuring so an RV sounds like a good idea, but has to be a ton of work. Personally, I think renting an RV is as much as I’m willing to commit.
Planning this trip brings up faint memories of the RV trip I took with my family when I was about 4 years old. It would be the first and last family trip I remember with my maternal grandparents as they both passed away a few short years later. That's the thing about family travel - there are always the memories. Back to 2021. The primary goal of our trip next month is to see my in-laws, which we haven’t seen since November 2019 (because Covid). We’re looking forward to the trip, but we might be slightly behind on planning. I'm not too worried being as this is a roundtrip adventure between Austin and El Paso, with only a few overnights along the way. Forget about state (Balmorrhea) or national (Big Bend) parks. I've been searching for months with no luck on booking a reservation. Regardless of how all this goes down, we're certain it's gonna be a memorable adventure which I hope our boys will remember fondly. Here’s what we’ve got going on so far... A few years ago, I decided it was time for me to serve on the board of directors of a local non-profit, but I wasn’t sure where to start. I knew I could put my skills and passion to good use, but it wasn’t easy to determine which non-profit might be the best fit for me. And the question remained - would they want me? Was I about to embark on a daunting task only to be rejected? Maybe, but I chose to move forward with my inquiry. One thing I knew for certain was that I wanted to serve on a working board with an organization in their first ten years. I expected to get into the nitty gritty of the organization to learn about operations, finances, and development among other things. As with all opportunities, I approached the prospect of board service as an opportunity to learn. I knew I could make an impact if given the chance, so I set off to find the non-profit of my dreams. Fast forward to today and I have served for nearly two years on the Board of Directors of Todos Juntos Learning Center. In my search to serve on a board, Todos Juntos was immediately on my shortlist of possible non-profits after learning about the organization through Mission Capital’s Board Summit. After meeting with the founders and/ or executive directors of four awesome non-profits, I was honored to know each expressed interest in me serving on their board, but I ultimately felt Todos Juntos was the best fit for a number of reasons. I'll never forget meeting with the Board Chair, with my 4-year old in tow. We met at a La Madeleine and I spent half my time redirecting my son while trying to respond articulately to questions related to my experience and interests. Thankfully the board chair was a mama, too, so she got it. In the first two years of my board service, again - the only board I have served on to date, I have chaired the organization’s signature annual fundraising gala, which was held virtually in February 2021 (days before the disastrous winter storm Uri) and raised over $100k. Last month, I was nominated by board leadership to serve as board co-chair and will officially be stepping into that role in the coming month. I knew back in 2019 Todos Juntos was a great fit for me, and I'm thankful they saw my potential despite not having deep pockets, fancy degrees, or an impressive title. In my opinion, more boards need to focus on diversity in every sense of the word because those of who want to serve, will always deliver. If you are interested in serving on a board - start brainstorming, and stay tuned for an upcoming post on why I think a non-profit board needs YOU. Can you find me?At the start of the pandemic, our youngest had just turned 3 and our oldest was 5 and would be graduating from kindergarten in a few short (or long) months. With a lot more time together at home, we soon started playing games at the end of the day to simply have fun, but an added benefit was that it helped alleviate mine and my husband's mounting stress. Laughter is a great stress reliever, so in my opinion - the more you can laugh as a family the better! Some of the first games we played early on were Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders, but in my opinion Candy Land gets old pretty quick and my youngest didn't always seem to have the attention span for Chutes and Ladders. Still, they're both great games for this age. After all these months, we still play games together regularly and we're often trying new games as the boys grow and develop, but the ones listed below are family favorites. Covid was mentally and emotionally A LOT worse. Yesterday I received my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Hooray! It's a milestone. If you’ve followed me along over the past year, you will know our family was devastated at the start of the new year when we contracted Covid from the pod teacher in the very first week. To make matters worse, we were the only family out of five families who contracted it. I still have nothing nice to say about that teacher. Although 2021 started off with a punch in the gut, I swear the mental load, anxiety, and stress of knowing we had Covid and having contracted it under such unfortunate circumstances was all worse than the actual symptoms. Thankfully the boys were 100% asymptomatic and we were fortunate to receive the antibodies infusion early on, although we'll never really know how it may have benefited us. Back to that vaccine... Hallelujah! Ed received his second Pfizer shot last Friday and I received my second yesterday. I'm hoping the availability of vaccines for adults and children 12-15 which was just approved this week, will help all of us get back on track to something more familiar, more desirable. Fingers crossed. For anyone hesitant about getting the vaccine, I can tell you my husband and I had ZERO side effects to both Pfizer vaccine doses. On the day of our shots, we each took Tylenol before bed as a precaution, but never developed any symptoms aside from minor soreness at the injection site. (Caution: Per CDC guidelines, you should not take OTC medications before your injection.) Fourteen months into this pandemic and I can say firsthand that Covid was mentally and emotionally A LOT worse than receiving the Covid vaccine. Sincere gratitude to the scientists and researchers who have spent countless hours on developing these vaccines. Vaccines save lives! Thank you to all of the medical professionals who have given of themselves beyond measure during this truly devastating time.
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Melissa Acosta is the Creator & Founder of mama wears pants, which she launched in 2021 as a wellness community.
In the MWP blog, Melissa shares openly about family, wellness, and community as a bold mama committed to personal growth. Melissa resides in Austin, TX with her husband and two boys. Categories
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