We call it “throwing a wrench in” around here.
It doesn’t happen often, although often enough that we have a dedicated
expression when it does. A game changer. A sudden shift in the plan. Sometimes
even an about-face. It throws us into chaos for a while, and then it all
settles down into a new normal. I have to remind myself of that, that soon it
will be normal. Not the same normal as before, but normal. Right now, well,
right now I have only just remembered that it is Thursday, because where did
the week go?
Next week I start a new job. In the midst of a full load of
grad school classes, children at two different schools on two different
schedules, an ever growing list of afterschool activities that require the kind
of ferrying I swore I wouldn’t ever take part in and a part time graduate
teaching practicum gig, I am taking over a much neglected library at a K-8 school. It’s crazy. Utterly crazy. And yet, I can't wait to start.
Our family balance has always been centered on the fact that
I am here. Here for sick days and vacation days, late starts, field trips,
midday concerts, afterschool conferences. It was a decision we made long ago,
and one that has worked well for the 12 plus years that we have been parents. And while it was always the plan for me to go
back to work, that was supposed to be later. After school, after the trial run
of this practicum, when we had all (myself included, myself especially!) had time to adjust to the
idea of mom being more than just mom.
But fate has a way of throwing that wrench in. And this chance was
too perfect to pass up. A library. My library. My own library. So it’s back to school I go. Twice over. As a
student and as a librarian. I have an excellent cheering section. They all
seem to think I can do this crazy thing. This full time plus half time plus another
half time plus all the other things that need to get done in a day thing. They will pick up slack, I will let things
go, someone will forget and event or an activity or a paper that’s due (it will
most likely be me) life will be crazy. And then, after a little while, it will be our new normal.
Until the next wrench comes along, of course.
~Gillian