Dodged a Bullet, Only To Be Hit By A Bus

After 8 straight days of spending time with the family, with no school, work or distractions, I went to bed Wednesday night feeling a little bittersweet about heading back to San Francisco on Thursday morning and coming back to the onslaught of work that was awaiting me. 

But like all great plans, COVID decided to mix things up for us once again. 

I woke up Thursday morning and, like most mornings, I looked at my phone and checked a few emails.  Buried amongst all the rest was the one I have been dreading since March 2020 (or rather July 2020 when school re-opened).  One of Oskar’s teachers tested positive for COVID so they were shutting down his classroom for 10 days… we were once again without child care until Monday August 16.  The good news: the teacher was fully vaccinated and her symptoms were minor.  And even better news: we weren’t exposed since we had been on vacation for the past 8 days. The bad news: I was heading into quarter end at work and Martin was heading to Germany on Wednesday for a much needed trip to see his family.  We had dodged the proverbial COVID bullet only to be hit by the COVID no daycare/work coordination bus.

I was going to need help, lots of it and fast.  And while Martin normally complains that I don’t ask my parents for help often enough, I did not hold back this time around. 

My parents came over on Friday afternoon to help watch the kids while Martin and I worked (and they then stayed for dinner to celebrate Alva’s birthday).   Oskar, Alva and I went over to their house on Monday so I could work while the kids ran amok and so Martin could focus 100% on work before leaving.  And then after two days at home Oskar, Alva and I headed back over on Thursday for two more days and nights. 

While the work part of stressful and the chaos of single parenting was real, the time spent with my parents was more than I could have ever asked for. The combination of a larger house, big backyard, grandparents to assist (and parents to provide me support), ice cream for breakfast, popsicles for snacks, home cooked meals, home grown tomatoes, freshly laid eggs gathered from the coop, old favorite toys and new ones from the grandparents, magic potions, bike riding and a general lack of rules helped to provide me a slice of sanity in the otherwise craziness of trying to do it all.

If I didn’t say it enough at the time.  Thank you Mom and Dad!!!