Episode 94: I'm BACK! and so is Riana! - an interview about my return to the classroom

Podcast about deciding where and how to apply for jobs.

Job Search with JOY - workbook

Honoring the Unexpected Path- Blog about my year outside of the classroom with my darling baby

The original podcast with Riana about my choice to quit to spend a year at home with my baby

Reach out to work with Riana! Email her!- rhensel@spes.org 

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Transcript

Annabelle Williamson 

Welcome back to teaching la vida loca, the podcast you come to for short and sweet and sometimes spicy episodes full of enthusiasm, magic and tips and tricks for your classroom. I'm Annabelle, your maestra loca, and I'm here to bring you inspiration, unapologetic authenticity and ideas to spark more joy in your teaching journey. I'm turning up the excitement and elated to have you right here with me. I'm not just your host, I'm your cheerleader, and I'm thrilled you're tuning in. So, let's do this. Let's tackle teaching la vida loca together. That's true. Hi. We are starting to laugh because I just realized I was clearing out my teeth. But Riana does not care if there are stuff in my teeth, and neither do you. Podcast listeners. Welcome to Teaching la vida loca. I am here with Riana who interviewed me. How many months ago was that?

Riana 

It must have been like August or September of last? Last 2024,

Annabelle Williamson 

of 2024, 24, right? Because it was when I was transitioning into, I am going to be a stay-at-home mom this year. God was that two years. That is horror. That is crazy, yeah. Oh, my God. So anyways, she interviewed me when I was transitioning into being a stay-at-home mom when I had my maternity leave with Ophelia, and for those of you who've heard the podcast and her and read my blog, then you know that it was a really challenging time for me, mentally and emotionally. I don't regret it. I'm so glad that I did it, but I now have a new job, and I have not done many podcasts this year or blogs, because life is just busy. And so, Riana at ACTFL said, Annabelle, why don't you just have me on again and I can ask you new questions about now And I was like, oh, that'd be so helpful. So, gracias for being here. And Riana is in California,

Riana 

yes, yes. I'm in Oakland, California,

Annabelle Williamson 

and somebody could work with you.

Riana 

Somebody could absolutely work with me. My school is an independent school in Oakland, California, and we are currently hiring for a middle school Spanish teacher. There's a lot of flexibility. I teach only with acquisition driven instruction, and it's a really, amazing school. It's the school I attended as a child. Oh, I don't know if you knew that, but it was my dream when I started teaching. Ever since I started teaching, I was like, I wonder what it'd be like at Saint Paul's. I wonder what it'd be like at Saint Paul's. And then I'm in my ninth-year teaching there.

Annabelle Williamson 

Oh, that is so cool. And you're incredible. So, you'd be working in a place where you can use acquisition driven instruction, and you'd be working with somebody who does it regularly and who has some really good work life boundaries. So, working with somebody who is good at practicing those

Riana 

Thank you. 

Annabelle Williamson 

You're welcome. Okay, so take it away. What questions you have?

Riana 

Well, first, how are you today?

Annabelle Williamson 

Oh, thank you for asking. Just glad to be here with you, because I've been looking forward to it all day, because this week has been wild. I've had 2 30-minute plan periods, and we're at Thursday night, and that's not normal for me at all at my new school, but it's been full of meetings, and I've had to cover for colleagues and like we're interviewing for new head of schools and stuff, it's just been wild. And so, I've been really looking forward to doing something for my business, one, connecting with a friend, two, and I've just, I've just needed to do something for me, and this feels like doing something for me, but it's been a chaotic night with the kids too. So just glad to be here in the quiet with you, yay.

Riana 

Well, as you alluded to last time we talked for the podcast, you were having lots of feelings about stepping away from the classroom and imposter syndrome and authenticity, and I'm just wondering, like looking back on that year, how did those fear and feelings pan out.

Annabelle Williamson 

So I think the biggest thing is I had so much happen that year beyond just the feelings of feeling like I can't present if I'm not in the classroom or I can't continue sharing in the same ways, because there was so much in our personal lives, and then all of the stressors, oh, my God, my makeup is everywhere.

Riana 

People can't see anything,

Annabelle Williamson 

but all the things piled on top of each other created such incredible stress. And all that stress culminated into what I was spiraling, and I insisted it was that the like all this regular like anxiety and frustration and imposter syndrome, and it was super hormonal, and I didn't understand that postpartum depression often shows up in other ways. I had always associated postpartum depression with, oh, it's something wrong with your baby, or you don't feel connected to your baby, and you feel like a bad mom. That was not a problem, and that's why I'm so glad I did it, because Ophelia and I have such a huge, incredible connection, and that's why I was certain it couldn't be postpartum, because I didn't have any of those issues. So I think that the biggest thing that happened was in January of last year, January of 2025, Paul looked at me one night and I wrote this in the blog that I'll link in the show notes, but Paul looked at when me one night, and he said, You've got to go back to the classroom in August. You've got to find a classroom. And I said, oh my God, thank you, because I felt like so seeing like I didn't want to say out loud, like, I need routine, I need structure. I need the joy of purpose, which is not that motherhood is not purpose. It's an incredible journey. I'm so lucky I can't imagine not being a mommy. And I need both to feel good about both. So, yeah, it played out in a wild roller coaster ride that I had no, no idea it would be what it is, but I'm, I'm really glad for it, and I'm also really glad that I could speak to it, because I didn't realize when I started getting brave about sharing like, yes, this has been great, and it's actually been really hard, and I really miss the classroom. It was so affirming to have so many teachers come and write an email or call or whatever and say, oh my gosh, not even just teachers, just mom saying I had to go back to work too, and I felt awful. And so many of us felt awful and felt isolated, because you don't want to say that out loud, like, oh, I didn't love being at home. Because you hear all these moms who did it for five years until their babies went to kindergarten, and you feel less than which is so silly, because we're not, we're still good moms, and we can be better moms if we're feeding our soul in the way that it needs to be fed. You know,

Riana 

yeah, there's so much as like women and mothers and like that. We're just not given permission to feel or to name. And I think navigating that, like work slash maternity leave slash, are you going to still have a career? Stuff is just so personal, and there still sometimes is so much judgment that goes along with, like, literally, every single choice that a mother can make. Yeah, I don't have kids, and I won't be having kids, but it's like, it's just watching my friends navigate these things. And like, you know, just all the different things, of like, oh, like, I have a year off for maternity leave, how lucky am I? And then, oh, like, shoot, like, maybe this is not what's best for my mental health or my family, or, like, you know, I have all this time and spaciousness because I left a job and I don't have the Gnome, something that I'm beholden to go back to. But like, I really need to use my brain in a different kind of way. Yes, it breaks my heart that they're that, that there's so little permission for like, the nuances and the individuality and like and just like being able to respond to what feels right for yeah people at those times and Yeah, and just Really want to reflect back that like postpartum depression and so many other things that kind of like go under that umbrella are so much more common than we talk about, and I think it's so powerful to share those things, because it allows people to connect, but also just, you Know, naming the things and not you know that it's just like, literally a body thing, just like going to the bathroom, so it truly is no reason to feel any sort of way about it. Yeah, yeah. It's powerful, so, so hard, that so many people feel they need to they suffer alone in that, or think that they are alone in.

Annabelle Williamson 

Yeah, that was, I think the biggest thing that came out of it for me was, like, feeling brave enough to speak out, but also feeling so guilty about it, and then finding immediate relief when floods of people were just like, oh my gosh, I felt the same. I just needed to go back to work. And people who I think are the greatest moms? It's like, yeah, we're, we're good moms, we're great moms, because we have what we need to balance, yeah, everything you know.

Riana 

And that's, that's huge, yeah, yeah. But also, like, huge shout out to Paul for knowing you in that way and like, like, seeing that that was so important to you, and for like you to be able to hear that in that moment. Yeah, you know, because there's so many times when, like, those closest to us, like, I was talking about this with my husband, AJ last night, he's like, I think blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, well, yeah, like, about me, like, analyzing, like, what I'm feeling like, well, yes, and like, Well, maybe you should this. And I'm like, okay, yes, I've been thinking that too. But like, the ability to meet that without defensiveness and just like, be grateful that there's someone in my life that, like, sees me that way and can in a way that works for me and works for our relationship, say, like, yeah, about this thing that it seems like you need. Pow, yeah.

Annabelle Williamson 

It's super important. I think that it's key to a relationship, any relationship, is the ability to speak about it and yeah and hear both listen and speak. You know?

Riana 

Yeah, yeah. Well, okay, that I was my next question on my list was everyone listening, probably knows. But did you miss being in the classroom?

Annabelle Williamson 

Oh, freaking much. I really do, for a billion reasons, especially just the micro moments of like joy and connection and creating that community was the biggest thing.

Riana 

Yeah, it's huge, huge. Do you want to talk about your job search and where you wound up? 

Annabelle Williamson 

Yeah, so my goal was to go back to the school where I was and I still love it. It's a public charter in New Orleans, and it's where Memphis still goes, and it's just and it's an incredible place with incredible educators. It's truly diverse, and I really love the mission and what it stands for, and the people there, and so that was my goal. So, I started conversations with them, like, literally, mid-January, and they had nothing. Mid-February, nothing. And I was like, Oh my gosh. And then March, I went in and I said, you know, I I've gotta, we gotta start making a move, like, good jobs are going to be gone. And they say, you know, like, we think that everybody's staying and I said, okay, well, can I come back as a coach, like I was ready to do pretty much anything, even though I wanted to be in a Spanish classroom. And then three things happened simultaneously. I was at SCOLT, and one of the teachers of the year up on the stage was named Shay Steckler, and I saw where she worked. And I was like, oh, I have a friend that works there that I used to work with Theresa. I better go. I don't want to go talk to this person. That morning, Theresa had texted me and said, hey, there's a job opening at my school. Long Shot. I know that you don't really want to work at a private school again or an independent school but just want to let you know. And I was like, yeah, probably not. You know, I had a not-so-great experience. Well, I saw Shay, and so I went up to her, and I was like, hey, you know, I'd love to know your thoughts. And she's like, just come. Just listen. You want to work at my school. Gave me like, an hour-long conversation about why, and I was like, well, maybe I'll, you know, application can't hurt. And that same freaking day, I got a text message from a mom that from a kid that I had taught two years before, a fifth grader. I taught him for one year, and she said, hey, my son is in fifth grade now at this school, and it's an independent school, and I know it's a long shot, but would you at least apply? There's a middle school Spanish position. So, it was three things in one day. And I was like, wow, that's literally the universe saying here, you know. And I knew that I'd be allowed to teach exactly as I want to. And then my next step was like really figuring out what my non negotiables are, and I recorded a podcast about that, so I'll link that. But I decided that the most important thing for me was really finding out whether the school was going to be aligned with my values. Yeah. Would stick up for me if I had a tricky situation, because that's what the bad experience in a previous school was. And through the interview process, I found out that they were perfect for me. So, I got lucky. And then unfortunately, the week after I accepted the position, two positions at my old school opened, but that's okay. I'm in a better place, yeah, yeah, good place for me.

Riana 

At the school that you were at before maternity leave, it was Elementary, yeah. 

Annabelle Williamson 

So, I it. The school itself has had three buildings, elementary, middle and high school, so it was technically a pre-K through 12. But the year that I was trying to go back this current school year, they merged, they got rid of one of the buildings, and they merged eighth grade with the high school and sixth and seventh with the lower so it was a huge transition year, and that's why, you know, it was just tricky all Around, Yeah, but I was teaching pre K third and fourth, or pre K fourth and fifth, and my new position is back in middle. So, I'm teaching sixth 5 7th graders in one of my sixth-grade classes, and then an eighth-grade section. Okay, yeah, got it back in middle.

Riana 

And then, okay, so you had worked at an independent school before, and were hesitant about it because it wasn't values aligned. 

Annabelle Williamson 

It wasn't values aligned, but it also, when it came down to it, I'm just gonna say it, because that's what I do. I'm authentic here, right? I had a parent call me a tattooed whore, and she didn't call it to my face. She emailed the entire board and all the Head of School and the three division leaders, not even one of them stood up for me. Oh, good. And then or responded in any way positive or negative, and this was like my third week teaching there. And then the only reason I found out was that infuriated her that nobody responded. So, she sent it to every Lower School family with a picture of me jumping on a beach in Vietnam in a bikini, which, oh my goodness, go try and find something bad on me. You can't, but it certainly showed the tattoos I had, and at that time, I didn't even have a sleeve. And, I mean, I love tattoos, but that's all you're gonna find on me. Ma'am, you know. And she is talking again about women and what is expected.

Annabelle Williamson 

I mean, it's wild, and then, and then said I needed to be removed from the classroom before I started teaching pole dancing. And personally, I would love to learn how to pole dance and the strength and the strength it takes. I mean, that is incredible, but I am the furthest thing from being able to pole dance ever. And so the thing for me was like the fact that nobody had a backbone to defend me, even if you didn't know me yet, surely you could have said we wouldn't have hired her if we didn't believe her morals were beyond reproach, or just anything, anything, anything, you know, so that, and then it was just like that. The entire time I was there, I had my car keyed. It was just not a great space. And what I learned my brain associated like, oh, in schools that are private, they will always listen to the people spending money more than the educators, and that's not what I'm experiencing now,

Riana 

yeah, yeah, yeah. And, I mean, I think it's, you know, a whole other podcast, and for someone above my pay grade to, like, have the whole discussion about, like, public schools and charter schools and private schools, like everyone has so many feelings about Yeah, and, you know, as a parent or as a student or as a teacher, and yeah, I as a child, like my school is an independent school, and I went there as a child. I was there from kindergarten to fourth grade, and then my family moved away, like an hour north, and I was in three different public schools for three years, like I switched, because I was miserable in all of them. And then I begged my mom to go back for eighth grade. And so, I got to graduate eighth grade at a kindergarten to eighth grade school still is. And I got to graduate eighth grade with my friends who I'd gone some of them I'd gone to preschool with, so something, then we went to then we went to kindergarten together. So it was like some kids that I'd known I was six months old, and then a bunch of others from fifth grade, or from five years old to that we got that I got to graduate with. And so, I had, I had had a child as an experience as a child and a student of. Like this is, like the attention and like, the kind of communicational connection and community that I was able to have at St Paul's specifically, was just so, so different than the community and connection that I felt with my peers and the teachers at the other schools that I went to, and so, yeah, yeah, I Yeah. And then had, like, a different experience at my, like, the Catholic high school that I went to, yeah, as a teenager. But yeah, it's very much dependent on, on where you are, what school it is, and if it's connected to something larger, you know, like a religious affiliation or something like that, and who the people are that are leading it,

Annabelle Williamson 

yeah, and how they interact with the people that are working with them, you know, yeah, Yeah, huge.

Riana 

And you had mentioned to me, prior to this conversation that you were having that your head of school is leaving,

Annabelle Williamson 

which has been really hard like it's I have had challenges already this year with families and this person and my middle school administration has gone to bat for me immediately, with without even talking to me first, just fully believing that, Fully trusting me to be who I am as an educator, letting me know after but mostly just to check on me and let me know. Hey, we're we have your back. And that was it was like this immediate like, sense of security and gratitude and like respect and so when I heard he was leaving, I was like, I'm happy for you, but literally what like you can't and what's been nice is they're very much involving us in this process of interviewing the next and as busy as I am as a mom and a teacher, it's been very much, been very, very important to me, in the same way that when I was at my last school and the school before that, being part of the union and forming the union at the fifth school and then being on the at the table negotiating at my last school like this, feels like, No, we're not unionized. But I want to be part of this, and I want to make sure I if they're asking for my opinion, that I'm sharing in detail my thoughts and that I'm showing up and asking really hard, uncomfortable questions, and that's what I did tonight and last or two nights ago, two different candidates, and my question both times was in a time where here we are in the south, and legislature is changing, and It is getting harder and harder to just bring diverse identities into our classroom and make sure that our students are exposed to multiple perspectives and various peoples cultures, all of the things in an age where don't say gay bills are being passed And we're trying a neighboring state, in neighboring states and like, and we're not allowed to teach the true history about the enslaved peoples, like, in a time when all of this is happening, I just said, I didn't say, What are your thoughts? I just said, how are you going to support the teachers here in this independent school? Since we can do things differently, how are you going to support us in doing that, especially if families here don't necessarily support it and for me, it's like, no, I'm going to ask those questions, because that's what if that's what I came here asking, and I found the values aligned. If we're getting a new head of school, I really want to make sure that our values still align. And what was great was, after that first night, I had, I had 10 people come up to me, who I you know, you barely know everybody at school yet, you know, I'm still new. And they all said, oh, my God, thank you so much for asking that question. It allows us to ask other hard questions, and these are the important questions. It's just like you need somebody to, like, kick it off. And it's spiraled into lots more really, really challenging questions to see how these candidates are answering them. Yeah. Um, which I just think is super important, and so any school I'm going to be part of, I'm going to invest in the community, and I'm going to invest if I'm going to spend time there, usually more time than at home, I'm going to make sure that it's going to be a place that I want to be in, that I am valued and respected, and that I can respect and value show my colleagues that I value and respect that, you know,

Riana 

yeah, yeah, teaching is too hard to not have that 100% Exactly, yeah, and that's in my career. I've had feelings of, like, oh, like, I got my teaching credential, like, prior I was a classroom teacher, prior to teaching Spanish, and had feelings about, okay, am I going to be in a public school? And am I, you know, the first job that I got out of grad school, I like, hadn't, it was spring break and I hadn't even finished my thesis yet, and I had so, so much work to do, and it was at a private school that I was like, I don't think this is values aligned, but this is more money than I thought I was going to be getting. And if I don't have to have any more interviews, like, I gotta try this. Yeah. And then was then at a charter school, teaching kindergarten after that, both of those were kindergarten. But I you know, it just matters so much to like. It just it's any teacher can burn out anywhere they're teaching, no matter what they're teaching, what age, what subject, but just to be at a place that like views you as a person and gives you the freedom to like do what you believe is best with children, is just like, we can't get a lot of bonuses. We can't seem to manage to get, like, an adequate amount of pay. But like that, for me, is the thing of like having the freedom to do what is right. And, you know, as a kindergarten teacher, it was like, oh, you must teach math with this book, and you need to do this page on this day. And I was just like, I cannot. I can survive this year doing this, but I cannot survive another year doing not beyond, yeah, it just didn't match what I knew was right for kids,

Annabelle Williamson 

yeah, or right for you, sustainable for you,

Riana 

yeah, yeah, yeah. Is there more you want to share about your school or about the transition going?

Annabelle Williamson 

 I think the other thing that I didn't know was so huge is planning time, because I've literally survived first, survived literally, yeah, for so long on minimal. I mean, when I was at my previous school, I was teaching nine classes a day. Every day, I had a 20-minute plan, a 15-minute plan, and another 15-minute plan, and not enough time to go the bathroom, no, and oh, and I had to eat during one of those times and so, but I made it work, yeah. And now I have, we're on a seven-day rotation. So, there's two days out of the seven where I only have 1 50-minute planning period, but every other day I have 2 50-minute planning periods and that I don't have to eat lunch during that time. And that's insane. Like, honestly, the first three months, I just was like, what do I do? What do I literally, what do I do? And I realized today I came on when we before we hit record. I haven't heard any of these questions yet y’all, I told her, no, I'd rather not hear I'd rather just like speak honestly. But I told you that I've this week had so little, and today I realized, oh my god, this state that I've lived in this week, this very frantic, frazzled, like, was your life for years, how I've been living, and it's why my therapist is, like, been trying for the last year and a half to just, like, Bring me down, because I've lived in this hyper stressed, hyper vigilant state for years, and now I'm in this place where, like, I can go and walk to get a coffee at the start of my break and breathe and then come Back and my lesson plans are better now, and the resources I'm making are better and I'm making and but I have time to be able to do that. I have time to give better feedback, and I have time to like, create things that I haven't in years because I was doing what I needed to and I was practicing what I preached, which is, you don't take work home like I will do what I can with this time, but we're going to be like, the slides are going to look like the slides look, and we're going to repeat a lot of things, but now I can really differentiate and do all these things, because I have time to be the teacher that I'd like to be.

Riana 

Yeah, yeah. And I bet you're talking to colleagues and connecting with colleagues, and. I'm getting to, like, talk about kids and what they need, like, specific kids and what they need, yeah, yeah.

Annabelle Williamson 

And it's wild too, because so many of my colleagues have been there so long, they have settled, and I'm getting to the point where I'm settling. That's why this week felt so hard, right? Yeah, but I wrote a list of for when you It's called My for when you forget list. And just to remind myself of how luxurious this time is, because it's not the norm, you know, and so reminding my colleagues like this is, this is luxurious. This is lovely. So, yeah, that's huge, too. Yeah, it's been wonderful.

Riana 

Yay, yeah, yay. How has it been balancing three kids and school and all the other things? 

Annabelle Williamson 

I think that's been my biggest adjustment this year, and I still haven't fully adjusted, but I'm doing better. I started the year also teaching my adult classes online still, yeah, because it was so much fun, that was like the thing that brought me, like, joy while I was out in the classroom, yeah, and then I tried to keep it and I was drowning, and I have had to realize, like, I spent a lot of time, maybe through November, feeling like I was able to do it all before. Why can't I do it now? And then just being like, okay, well, that was with two kids, and now you have three, and one of them is, you know, 16 months old, 15 months old, like, what are you doing? And I'm now in a place where I just it. It's when I start to compare, because I always tell people don't compare, but when I start to compare myself to some of my friends who have businesses like mine, where their side hustle is like coaching teachers. Yeah, so many of them either don't have kids, or their kids are graduating or already graduated, and they're older than me, and I'm like, Stop, like, this is my season right now. So, if I can only put out a podcast every six months, then I put out a podcast every six months, and if I only put out an email once every two weeks right now, then that's what I do. And luckily, like, because I've never been a person with the my Mondays, my emails come out every Monday, and my podcast comes out every Wednesday, and my because I've never been that way, and because people appreciate that, I do speak authentically and share authentically, it's allowing myself to give myself permission to just do what feels best right now, whatever that looks like. So it's been an adjustment, because I want to still do all the things, but my reality is I can't, so I need to scale back, and I need to go, Well, I am a mom first, and a wife, and then I am a teacher, and I freaking love it, and I want to keep it that way. I want to keep myself in the classroom. I want to keep loving it so that I can keep sharing that when I have time to share it with other educators who also love teaching or who need a little boost of inspiration, and it, it can't be my responsibility to do that every week when I can't. Right now, no, but I know that people appreciate it when I can. Yeah.

Riana 

And I mean, yeah, it's not like I feel like this about so many things like you get to decide, like my school, I'm like, Well, yeah, everyone's like, Oh, well, the schedule. And it's like, well, guess who's in charge of the schedule? It's us. Like, guess who's in charge of your podcast? It's you in charge of your family, you and your husband, again, you know? So, I think just giving people the permission to sometimes, like, just say, you know what, it might have been like this before. It's not like that now. And it doesn't mean I have that a lot of thinking of, like, oh, pre pandemic, I did this and I did this, or, like, I would, you know, go out and, like, do things after school. Yeah, that's not my reality now.

Annabelle Williamson 

Yeah, it's just not doable. I think too, when we compare to previous years or previous whatever seasons, it's hard to the reason it's so hard. Is because we're not comparing to other people, like we can say, well, I'm not comparing myself to somebody else. The reason it feels hard is it's yourself and you used you. You were the person who did this before. So why? Why does it feel so hard now? And it's just like, no, we literally also change. It's, it's why so many people struggle in relationships where, when they got together, you know, 20 years before, and if they haven't, like, continued to learn to grow together and communicate together, that's going to be impossible, because you change so much. You know, yes, it's wild, yeah. So, um,

Riana 

well, that's the all the questions that I had written down. Is there anything else on these topics that you want the people to know?

Annabelle Williamson 

I'm really glad that you asked everything you asked, um, I think I'm just grateful, I think mostly for the last one, because it gave me again, permission to just say I'm doing what I can, and I appreciate the grace and the and the gratitude that I get when I do share. And for right now, it's going to continue to look sporadic, because we've got a crazy life and we're growing some amazing humans who I hope will be empathetic and loving and caring and good neighbors, because right now, there's nothing this world needs more than good neighbors and caring people. Yeah, and I think that that's something else I just I shared in familia loca when we met last was like we met. We were supposed to meet for our workshop the month, and it turned into Minette shared a video of her teaching for the first part, and then I shared and we debriefed those. And then we talked and talked and talked and talked more. And then it turned into me crying about how hard it is, because when I do go to share Riana, I open up social media and I'm hit with something so either fills my heart with rage or breaks my heart with grief, or whatever it is that I'm like, Well, I can't share something joyful about a brain break right now. Like, I just want to cry. And so that's the other piece. Is like, I just appreciate the thing that's been pulling me out of that is appreciating seeing how much care and community and neighborism, that's a term I saw online recently, happening right now, not just in Minneapolis, but everywhere. It's like, you are seeing people say, no, I care about you. I care about No, I don't know you, but I care about you. And here's how I'm going to show you, I care about you, and that's helping me so much. So, I'm, I'm in the middle of doing the important work of raising children who will care about others regardless of whether they know them or not. Yeah, you know, yeah.

Riana 

And, and joy is, you know, we can't bury our heads in the sand, but it no one is served by us being overwhelmed with rage and grief. And that's true. We need joy in these moments. 

Annabelle Williamson 

And yeah, and that's why I've been limiting my social I just can't look yeah. I just can't look yeah, right now. And I can, I can be informed, and I can choose to step away, to breathe and be the mom I need to be, the teacher I need to be, be the friend I need to be, be the wife I need to be, and then use my platform to share the good and the truth. And I, Lauren Watkins in our meeting, in our familia loca meeting, showed me a shortcut on my phone how I can get straight to record a reel or straight to record without my feed.

Riana 

You just hold on to it, right? Yes. So excited.

Annabelle Williamson 

So that's going to be great to share a little bit more when I have time.

Riana 

Yeah, one thing about like, there's no one who is on your email list or like subscribes to you anywhere that has read and implemented everything you've sent out any if anyone is like, oh, I wish Annabelle was sending more stuff. Hey, just search in your email. There's stuff you haven't done

Annabelle Williamson 

that's so real. There's stuff you haven't opened. There's still emails you haven't opened for real.

Riana 

And I know I have zero inbox, but like, Yeah, I did. I skimmed them. But that doesn't mean that there's not things that wouldn't be relevant. Like now. So, anyone who's wishing that Annabelle was putting out more stuff as she is doing some important work life, side hustle, balance, you can just search keywords in the.

Annabelle Williamson 

Your email or me or my website. I mean, seriously, there's so much

Riana 

so just another little thing to like, take some of the pressure off, like the real Thank you. There's nobody on this planet, nobody Vivianna, maybe not even her, no, no, nobody who has consumed everything that you put out.

Annabelle Williamson 

It's so true. Thank you for that. And that reminds me, too, it's okay to repurpose like absolutely you know, I need to do more of that when I have time, of course, and if you have time, and if I have time, yes, yes. Okay, you are the best for doing this for me, I'm gonna go tuck in my kiddos who have been so patient and lovely and thank you. I'm doing

Riana 

a great job raising them. That's why they're so patient and lovely.

Annabelle Williamson 

They are. It's amazing. I’m so lucky. Okay, until next time, we will both be teaching la vida loca, and you could be too with Riana next year. So, Riana, how do they reach you if they want to find out more about that position?

Riana 

I think we said we could put my Oh, we could put in the show notes. Show Notes, yes, so you can email.

Annabelle Williamson 

You can find Riana school email in the show notes if you're interested to learn more about that position, but it would be, I mean, if I didn't have three kids to move across the nation,

Riana 

but we got year-round farmers markets, we got sunshine, we got great food. My school is right by the huge lake that's in the middle of Oakland, and the kids are out there all the time. We give like, $3 million in financial aid a year, which is like, dwarfs the competition in our area. I think nation. I think nationally, we're ranked for that amount of money, and we're like, scrappy school that is has been committed to that since the very beginning, like I was the only white girl in my fourth-grade class in the 90s. Like it was, it was racially diverse from the beginning, like, meant to represent Oakland, and it's a really, cool spot.

Annabelle Williamson 

That is incredible. Well, if y'all aren't jumping on that, I don't know what you're doing. Okay. Well, I appreciate you. I'm grateful for you, and I hope you have a great night. Thank you. Bye.