Teetering

The thing about single motherhood? Even when things are going great, balance is precarious and teetering on the edge. I think we've officially tipped into BAD.

Backing up: LG was sent home from school on Friday due to a head lice infestation in her class. Yuck, right? But in the scheme of things no big deal. I picked her up, brought her back to campus with me while I met with some students, took her home and de-loused her. We went about our weekend business as usual.

So color me stunned when I happen to glance down at my cell phone yesterday to see that her school had called. And apparently sometime between that intitial call and when I returned it, *twenty minutes* later, the secretary proceeded to begin calling folks on LG's emergency card. Because her second inspection showed she still had lice and she needed to be picked up. Let's just say I was less than diplomatic in the ensuing conversation. The folks on LG's emergency cards? All of them are single mothers who work. So it's not as if they can drop everything to deal with random stupidity like a friend's kid having head lice. Emergency contacts, as I wrote in a scathing email to LG's principal yesterday, are for EMERGENCIES, not school inconveniences. Needless to say, I made it very clear to the secretary that yes I would pick up LG but not until after my first class. It's a school. Put her wherever it's most convenient, give her some work to do, and deal.

I cancelled class, even though A said she was willing to sit with LG while she graded papers, because at this point I was exhausted (didn't sleep at all on Saturday night)and ill-prepared for my second class because I'd spent all my remaining prep time dealing with LG and having her (again) in my office while I met with students. At that point I figured it would be easier all around and, hey, it's midterm and students generally appreciate the random day off, especially on a week they have a paper due.

So I emailed my students, explained the situation, and said I'd be happy to meet with anyone who wanted to talk about papers today. Set up a bunch of appointments, even though I doubt more than one of these folks was actually planning on coming to my ACTUAL OFFICE HOURS yesterday.

LG started puking at 5:00.

That means she's home. That means I'm getting very little done today. That means I'll probably be puking within 24 hours, because it's a law that I get every illness she gets, only worse.

We're supposed to go to Chicago on Friday (she already has a 1/2 day on Thurs and a day off on Fri), so she could hang out with her gram while I went on that donor egg consult and graded a whole stack of papers.

Sigh.