Tuesday, September 25, 2007

My life is a comedy of errors

Let me preface this by saying that in all the time my son has been in school - several years - I have never had to have my emergency contacts contacted. Ever.

This morning Gus woke up and sounded like he was wheezing slightly. He's had a cough for a few days. Nothing major - he gets one every year around this time. So as usual, I sent him to school & asked the teacher to let me know if he was in fact wheezing. I planned to take him to the doctor after school.

Now, I've arranged my schedule so I am only working 1 morning during the week, and my classes are only 90 minutes long. I typically turn my cell phone off during class - it's yoga and kind of expected. I pretty much figure - what could happen in an hour and a half. Plus, the school has the studio number anyway. To top that off, my husband was home sick today. You already see where this is going, right?

My class ends at 10:30; school calls my cell at 10:00. They call 4 times. They call the house; DH is out getting his car inspected. For some unknown reason, I neglected to give the school his cell number. They also tried the studio, but my boss, who was there, didn't answer the phone. Er...okaaaay. Now we're into the emergency numbers. Obviously, we are neglectful parents.

First emergency contact just misses the call by minutes. Probably out emptying the garbage or something. As she is trying to call back (and getting busy signals) the school gets the second contact, who is also home sick, with a 3 year old. She leaves to pick up Gus while first contact finally gets through. She is now worried why no one can reach me.

Right after class, I get the messages and call the school. After several busy signals, I finally reach the social worker and find out that someone (she doesn't know who specifically) is on their way to get my son.

After ripping several hairs from my poor, distressed head, I finally pick up Gus from my cousin, take him to the doctor and guess what??

He's FINE!!!

He's got a cough.

Yeah, yeah, protocol, blah blah.

A bit stressful today. But I've learned my lesson - the ringer on my phone stays on, period.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Blind leading the blind

"Which way is right?"

This is not the question to ask someone who routinely mixes up lefts and rights, especially when facing said directionally-challenged person.

I'm not totally incompetent about lefts and rights. The problem is that when I teach yoga, as I was taught, I mirror the class. So, I have to say "right," but use my left hand or leg and vice versa. It is a constant source of amusement for my students and bemusement for me. It's particularly interesting when one part of the body is going one way and another is going the other way, like when we're twisting. I'll admit, when it comes to twisting, I cheat.

"Um..."

Gus was trying to engage me in his game and I wanted to respond, but the explanation was too long and he would have lost interest if I made it too complicated. So how could I explain that it depends which way is right? Did he mean my right or his right? Should I have even gotten into all of that? The easiest thing would have been to tell him his right, which was actually my left. What did he care about my right? Why couldn't he just have asked for north, south, east or west? Those are fixed directions and I have them memorized in relation to our house. There's no ambiguity there. Hm...his right would have been north and my right would have been south...

This whole rationale spun my brain right into a knot.

Apparently I took too long to answer; he lost interest. But then, miracle Sunday, he came back! And he snuggled his back against me. "Which way is right?" Easy-peasy, my friend.

"It's that way."