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Pimento Cheese Sacrifice Was Worthwhile As School Safety Remains Top Priority

               Hill Country Living
                  By Coulter Fussell

The weather has been a bit bizarre and that’s on account of the double hurricane situation that happened in the Gulf. I mean, of course there was a double hurricane. Why not, at this point, ya know?
There was a day with a hint of fall in the air and you could almost remember what it was like to wear a hoodie. My joggers beckoned from the bottom of my chest of drawers. But I couldn’t bring them out as it was still in the high 80s. I don’t really think of pumpkins and falling leaves when I envision fall time. I envision sweatpants and one-pot casseroles with crusts and me wearing sweatpants while standing at the stove and eating the crust off the top of a one-pot casserole. 2020 has been exhausting. I’m ready to be gluttonous and lazy.
The most exhausting part of it for me has been the decision-making involved in parenting this year. Now, I’m very lucky because my children are healthy, safe and provided for. So ultimately, this decision didn’t carry the weight that other parenting decisions sometimes carry. Many parents out there make much harder decisions alone and with no help whatsoever. The difference here, though, was the intense and constant societal attention and pressure.
Deciding whether or not to send kids back to school was a doozy. I was sort of blown away by how much I flip-flopped. I typically know within microseconds what I’m going to do in a situation. But this decision was another story. While I knew what I felt was best for them from the very beginning and what I would ultimately wind up doing, I was also hyper aware that this would not be what my friends and family would either want me to do or decide for themselves.
I was annoyed that the entire situation had been politicized and I knew I was about to step outside a box and feel alone. My closest friends and family were kind and understanding. Others, not so much.
It was a bad place to be, waking up every single solitary day to endless scrolling internet comments about the loveless, selfish mothers sending their kids back to school; mothers who don’t care about greater society or the health of teachers. I understood the concerns completely but not the vitriol or lack of compassion. It was never truly a “choice” anyway.
So all that to say, I’m glad we’re slowly moving past that phase and that the September 4th Switch-Registration day for kids is happening. While it will be a big ordeal for the teachers (bless y’all) and it may risk an outbreak at what has otherwise been (with a couple minor exceptions brought in from outside) a safe and controlled environment at school, I am of the belief that the more options a parent has, the better for the kid.
Last week my oldest kid texted me from school saying he had forgotten to put anything in his sandwich. All he’d packed was two pieces of white bread. I spoil him occasionally, so I brought him a new sandwich up to the school. The school told me I couldn’t drop off the sandwich due to Covid regulations.
While I was out a few heaping spoonfuls of some good pimento cheese I’m happy that the school is being so cautious. If I have to sacrifice a pimento cheese sandwich so that these kids can go to school safely and learn from their trained, professional, certified teachers then I volunteer ALL my pimento cheese!
And by fall, I hope it will all be calmer and we can bring the teachers all the crusty-topped casseroles we can make for doing what they do for us.

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