nanny to the rescue

In case you’ve been holding your breath since my Monday blog, I want to tell you some information that will let you breathe normal. Things have settled down around our parts – the ocean is quite calm (after the storm) and the skies are bright and indigo blue. We all feel more or less like ourselves again.

Monday afternoon we learned an important piece of the puzzle that’s restored our trust in the good and decent people of this world and made it possible for us to keep our wonderful nanny. We’ve also tinkered with the situation to make it better (I’m still not at home all day, but I’m dealing for now).

The whole ordeal has summoned to the forefront of my mind something that we all know but forget about a lot – sometimes, actually a lot of the times, impossibly challenging situations as well as dramas big and small are bubbling just below the surface of otherwise normal-looking people. You figure everyone is just honky dory and you’re the only one dealing with hard stuff that you can’t shake, but it’s probably the opposite. And it’s hard to remember that.

I recently finished the book Bird by Bird and I can’t stop thinking about life through Anne’s quote’s, so here goes: “I have come to think of almost everyone with whom I come into contact as a patient in the emergency room.” This is what puts her in the mood to give, she says. That’s a good way to orient yourself, I think, because in this world, every Joe and Jane is dealing with some kind of emergency unbeknownst to you, so it’s important to be as delicate and kind as possible, especially when you don’t want to.

Which brings me to the next point. I had a moment this week when I acted completely monkey-like, dumping my frustrations on my dear husband. It was after my most cherished Wednesday, and I just felt awful after putting Calboy through another suite of shots at his six-month appointment. He was cranky for the remainder of the day and I just stayed with him, holding him and neglecting every household chore, even during his naps. My husband was less than cheery to come home to see the house undone, and I snapped at him after he asked me about it. Everything came crashing onto the shore – the emotions of the week, the emotions wrapped up in Cal’s shots, my exhaustion, and that deep-seated nagging of not being or doing enough, awakened by that one comment. But of course my husband had his own emergencies, including a very long and challenging workday and an evening brimming with yet more to-dos.

So we’re all recovering from or overcoming something. With our nanny, she is facing something exponentially more difficult than the dereliction of dirty dishes, so our hearts reach out to her. Even so, I hope she knows that she’s saving us a little by bringing such beauty, love, and consistency to our sweet baby Calvin.