The Work Still Travels

Today, within the span of just a few blocks, I had two interactions that stayed with me.

At Bug Park, a woman approached me and laughed that she hoped I didn’t think she was stalking us. Her daughter had noticed us at another park and commented that we really do seem to get all over town. I laughed and told her, “The whole city of Horace is our playground.”

Then she told me she had been watching as I helped a few children work through a disagreement. What she noticed wasn’t that there was conflict. She noticed the way it was being held. She told me I was a delight to watch and that I always seemed to have so joyful.

A few minutes later, not even four blocks away, another woman opened her garage as we stopped for water in front of her house and called out to us. She asked if we were a childcare program, and when I said, “Yes, Muddy River Nature School,” she immediately responded, “Oh my gosh, that’s you! You’re THE Muddy River Nature School!”

I laughed.

Earlier , I made the decision to remove Muddy River from social media. Social media had absolutely served a purpose for us. It helped people discover this little school, understand what we were building, and watch it grow. But eventually, I knew it was no longer where I wanted the heart of this work to live.

I wanted to protect our experience more carefully. I wanted to document with intention instead of constantly thinking about what should be shared. I wanted our families to have a window into the richness of our days without feeling like those days needed to be performed for anyone else.

And today felt like such a quiet confirmation that it was the right decision because the work did not disappear because we stopped posting it publicly.

People still see us!

They see children moving through their community. They see us biking. They even see disagreements being worked through. They see joy. They hear the name Muddy River and recognize it.

I think that is the kind of visibility I wanted all along.

And to the families who trusted me when I made that change: thank you. You trusted that I could close one window without closing you out. You trusted me to find another way to keep you connected to your children’s days, while also protecting something that is precious to me.

I’m very grateful you did.