SPRING 2018
maskmatters.org
9
I
will never forget that moment:
I picked up my daughter from school
and she asked, “Where are we going?”
I proceeded to tell her, “Remember,
your brother has a basketball game,” to
which she replied, “Can’t we ever just go
home?” I just sat for a moment, shocked,
and said, “You know what? Next year, we
can make that choice.”
Let me give
you some backstory.
We have a blended
family of five
children, with a 10-
year span between
the youngest and
oldest. My daughter,
the youngest, has
endured years of being schlepped around
to this event and that activity. And now,
during this moment, she was beginning
to have her own “to-dos” to add to this
already crazy schedule. Every day, we had
somewhere to go or something to do.
I’ve always encouraged my children to
spend time doing what they love, because
I believe if children focus their time and
energies on positive things, it will help
guard against the negative opportunities
that come their way.
I spent so many
years with my older
children in their
competitive sports
and activities, it just
seemed normal to
have her get into that
world, as well. I don’t
regret what I’ve done with my kids, but
with my daughter, we were again finding
ourselves in the competitive schedule of
sports. She liked what she was doing, but
she didn’t love it.
After that moment in the car, I sat
down with her and let her know that we
were going to take a break so that we could
“just go home.”The next year, she played
school sports and after each day, we went
home, hung out, actually sat down for
dinner, and just calmed the storm that we
had been living for much of her life. As a
parent, we just do what we have to do, and
I truly didn’t realize what a vicious schedule
we were keeping for so many years. What a
gift she gave us by simply going home.
Love you, lil’ lady.
Kimberly Cabral
Founder / Publisher
MASK
I spent so many years with
my older children in their
competitive sports and
activities, it just seemed
normal to have her get into
that world, as well.
PUBLISHER’S LETTER
GOING HOME
