Community

I should clarify that while Zac was gone for three days, I got help.  I knew that technically I could survive as a single parent for three days, since people have done it for lifetimes.  But, I also knew that it would be really hard, just in terms of sleep.  There is a lot that needs to happen in the evening: getting daycare bags unloaded, all the lunch dishes into the dishwasher, supper on the table, those dishes into the dishwasher, the dishwasher run, Alice bathed, read to, and put to bed, the dishwasher unloaded, the lunches and daycare bags packed again, all while keeping Simon happy and fed and Alice out of trouble.  I would need to accomplish all of that by 9:00 pm in order to get to bed shortly after Simon in order to wake up again at 5:30 am.

So I decided to ask for help.  The mission of our school focuses on community and citizenship, and while we try to instill these values in our students, I am always impressed by how well the staff practices them as well.  We do a great job taking care of each other, and I have been on the receiving end of a lot of that help since having kids.  We got tons of hand-me-downs and loans of baby stuff: from carseats, to strollers, to clothes and a pump, not to mention all the great advice and recommendations.  Plus, on my second maternity leave which left a sub in charge for two months, my colleague Lisa really helped out with communicating lesson plans and keeping the sub from going crazy.  All this is just to say, with no family nearby, my school colleagues have become my extended family.

So when I knew I would want help on these three days, I ran through a list of people from school.  The helper had to meet certain criteria though: she would have to want to do it, and not have kids of her own to take care of, and not have much school work to do in the evenings.  Luckily, DeeAnn was the perfect person.  She is one of those wonderful people who truly loves helping people.  She has grown kids, and since she teaches the special ed and study skills class, she doesn't have any grading or lesson planning to do. Plus, she loves holding babies.  All I needed to do what mention during lunch duty one day that Zac was going to be out of town for three days and I was worried about it, and she offered to help out.

The three evenings went as smoothly as possible, as she helped with the kids while I did the kitchen stuff, and she pitched in wherever needed.  I am so lucky to have her as a friend and colleague.  Alice and Simon took to her right away as well.