Just Another Morning

I am soundly sleeping that peaceful, deep sleep that tends to come about an hour before the alarm is going to jolt me from the nest of down comforter and soft pillows that encases me. That is when it begins.

The hoarse whisper-call of a sick child croaking for the comforting reassurance of Mom sounds in the darkness immediately rousing me from full rest to puke-battle-ready stance, and I am up. After a quick triage, she crawls into MY SPOT and I settle onto the cliff's edge of the bed with only enough blanket and sheet to cover a portion of myself. I assess the situation and rouse Mr Sunshine enough for him to announce he has meetings all day. So I reluctantly leave my ravaged nest and trudge to Boy's room where I wake him and establish he can, in fact, watch Tweenish today, when, of course, today gets here. With that settled, I slip silently into the small bit of bed that is left to me and try snuggling into my newly rationed portion of pillow. That's when the mewling cry of misery begins - with her! not me, I am above such things, or pretend to be. I do a quick wrist to forehead check and establish she is somewhere in the burning range. Asking for a vomit-scale, I assess a solid 9. 

Would I be a horrible mother to Boy or to Tweenish- if I just stuck with plan A? 
Yeah, yeah, I know all of the above. Onto plan B.

I wish farewell to the few remaining moments of warmth and comfort mostly because guilt won't allow the enjoyment of such things and submit a sub request in the wee hours, while I make myself a cup of tea. I settle in on the couch and begin writing sub plans - heaving a heavy sigh at the thought of missing the professional performance of Romeo and Juliet that I have invested several weeks of instruction to prepping my students to enjoy today. 

Before you know it, the normal household hustle begins in earnest. Tweenish is awake, has had some juice and seems beyond the messy phase of illness... And I begin to wonder - can I cancel a sub I requested? What is the rule? It's over an hour before the sub will show - I can try. Feeling a rush of relief and mild annoyance that I have created sub materials and have everything printed and ready to drop-off, my fingers fly sending a quick text to ask if I can issue a recall on the sub...Change clothes for the second time...be sure Teen and Littlest are ready...and receive the reply - I cannot really cancel, since it's still a 1/2 day off. Okay - plan C is a bust revert to B. Drop Teen at school, leave my sub plans (and tidy my desk because, let's be honest - a sub is like company but in the classroom) drop Littlest at daycare and proceed home. Decide to make the best of the day and get some chores done, change clothes accordingly - at this point Tweenish mentions just how many times I have changed clothes today (and it's only 8 am).

Settling in with tea cup #2, a stack of grading, and a soft blanket, I begin my to do list. My phone buzzes...Check it and discover that I have no sub! HA! read irony here Yes! I can come back. Change clothes again - because yoga pants and old t-shirts aren't suitable teacher gear - and head back to school. Arrived to a surprised class and a grateful stand-in. My day consisted largely of finishing Act 5 of Romeo and Juliet, an amazing production of said work, and even better reflections/debriefings with students. It doesn't pay. It is stressful. I have lots of homework. But I couldn't imagine anything better. And only 1 day until fall break!