Vacation, and not a moment too soon

When one thing taking up all of my time (Lice Mom this last week has been unusually silent - and Lice Daughter is still out of school, four weeks later) disappears, another always fills its place. This week, Lice Mom's absence was filled by a bus driver up in arms claiming that one of my middle school students with muscular dystrophy that rides the bus is a liability due to his inability to keep himself in his wheelchair during the bumpy ride. To quiet everyone down, I said I'd take a ride myself with him to see how it really is. That's right, your tax dollars at work: the school nurse rode the bus to school. As I had imagined, it was not a big deal at all - the .8 mile ride no bumpier for Mr. Dystrophy than it was for me, and furthermore, I believe everyone is treating the kid like an invalid when he's totally not - he is a sassy preteen boy who happens to use a wheelchair. On top of that mess sucking up a great deal of time between earfuls from the bus driver and assistant prinicpal, a nurse is leaving me, and a couple of my kids were orphaned by one atrocious tragedy. I'm leaving that mess out of this blog, but let me just say that the circumstances are terrible enought to make most rational people lose their appetite. Four children are suddenly without parents. The week has been so draining that the other night I fell asleep at 8:30 pm. Yeah, break, please. I'm going to need to come roaring out of the gates when we return on the 28th, without my favorite backup. Happy Thanksgiving and please, may all the families of my kiddos remain intact.