the first amendment
just to clarify: the intent of the last post wasn’t to say "no one makes an effort for me" … or to get the six emails from VERY kind friends who asked, "you didn’t mean me, did you?" the answer is no.
i was referring to people you have a long history with, and the phenomenom of, "you left. if you want to see us, you come here."
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i don’t know how large families manage to get everyone everywhere they should be.
today i had a 3pm appointment to interview someone from a law firm to see if i could get their perspective on a new employment law in china. my deadline on this is monday, it’s crunch time. (i also have to complete another 2100 word story as well for the same day.)
so i am compiling some rough notes and enjoying the relative peace. babies are just stirring, and mila goes in to get them. lita is on a much deserved two week break right now: it is her daughter’s first birthday and we sent her to the philippines for two weeks in june and promised her two more in september if she survived the summer. she did, and the other day she left. sebastian is downstairs playing with adam.
my idyll is smashed with the ring of the phone. it is adam’s helper, asking who is coming to sebastian’s football practise. foot ball starts at 3pm and ends at 4pm.
i could ask adam’s helper to take sebastian, but that wouldn’t be fair, as nilda will be caring for adam’s little sister as well as adam. stacking her with three kids in a taxi wouldnt’ be fair, or probably you know, safe, i think as an afterthought. *
i could ask mila to do it, but there is no way that i could handle an interview whilst watching the babies. even if i plugged them into a video, there is no way they would stay still for 30 minutes. or quiet.
so the interview is a loss. i reluctantly call to cancel it, while firing socks, playshirt, trainers and drinks into a plastic bag (no time to dig around and find the backpack) and race out the door.
and i have TWO HELPERS!
how do families do it? how to you make multiple appointments? does driving make it easier? whose appointments are more important? i don’t see a lot of mothers with older children in tow at these practises, it always seems to be younger children toddling about. is that what you do? bring along the younger to the older’s events? what if they are simultaneous? i feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about this. i was a dismal failure at career mum and full time mum today.
oh well…hopefully i can get everyone in bed so i can conduct my 7.30pm interview with some fellow in america in relative peace.
* as we know from earlier posts, i am quite willing to place my children in physically dangerous situations.
