Real Life

I had such a nice day at work yesterday.

During lunchtime, we continued to plan for our teammate's shower. It is delicious to be throwing a party for a blushing bride who has lived with the groom-to-be for 17 years. It is surprising how a wedding can be such a pivotal event after so many years.

Also, we had a visit from a former colleague. She worked with us for years, and last May had her first child. Everybody knew that as soon as they started their family, she would be staying home. What we didn't anticipate was that in order to provide for the family, her husband had to accept a job in Texas. She was broken-hearted, and has struggled with loneliness and discouragement. She flew up just for a couple of days, and spent hours in the lounge with us. She kept saying, "This feels so NORMAL- I have to remind myself that it's SPECIAL and I have to treasure it." It was fun to cuddle the baby, tell the kind of stories that she's been missing, and look at her twinkly eyes. She was embarrassed to admit it, but she kept asking about the new curriculum and what we thought about it. She obviously really misses the vigor and rigor of work.

AND- another dear friend and colleague had to leave for a quick meeting mid-morning to MEET THE BIRTH PARENTS of her coming baby girl. We were all kind of worried about it, because these mothers often (understandably) change their minds when the baby is born. She's due to deliver on October 13, and apparently mentioned to B. that she hoped to bring the baby home for a day or two. This sounds dangerous, but everything else the mother said was unequivocal about B. and her husband. There were questions about whether or not the birth mother could have visits. B. was just so radiant- when she came walking back up to the front of the school from the parking lot, all of us were waiting and watching through the lounge window, and she waved at us so energetically, we just knew it had gone well.

Please understand, I think my job is extremely important. Possibly even the second-most important one in the world. But the first-most important one is building strong families- and I mean that in both the specific and the broader senses of the word. We all returned from lunch with better perspective about stress, work, and life.