Yesterday morning, the dog let herself out and joined my neighbour on his morning run (I didn't even know she was gone!). He brought her back, let her in, and called out to me,
"Susan... did you need some help fixing that flat tire?"
"Flat?!? What flat?!? I have a flat?!?"
Not only did I have a flat, but when we opened the jack compartment, it was empty! I've never had a flat on this van (that I bought second-hand last year), so had no idea all the tire-changing tools were missing! But, that's what CAA is for... well worth the $100/yr... it has now paid for itself this year!
So CAA comes... two guys... and after messing around for a half hour, they tell me they can't get the spare down from under the van. They've inflated the flat tire so I can drive to the garage where they can fix it. I call my wonderful, helpful neighbour (who I would be lost without!) and ask if she could pleeease take the kids to school for me while I go deal with this tire problem. It was probably about noon at this point, and I had a doctor's appt at 1:30 and was supposed to meet with that student to go over her thesis defense presentation at 2:30.
Just as I was heading out the door, the doctor's office calls to say they have to move my appt to 2:00... so I call my student and leave a message telling her I won't be there until 3:00 (knowing that this will send her into another panic because she's convinced that she will never have her presentation ready in time!). Then I go to the garage, wait while they fix the tire, and at this point I've lost all perception of time.
I glance at the clock as I'm driving home... 1:20... great -- I have time to stop at home and grab something to eat before my doctor's appt. A few minutes later as I'm making myself a sandwich, the clock catches my eye on the coffee-maker... 2:25! Sometimes the cats hit the button and move the time ahead... I whirl around to look at the microwave... 2:25! And just at that moment, the phone rings... the doctor's office -- "Susan... where are you?!?!?"
Ohhhhhhh man, I am SUCH an idiot!!! Totally forgot that I hadn't set the clock in my van to daylight savings time! But I'm lucky b/c the appt can be re-scheduled for Wed. Then I rush to the university to meet with the student... only to find that she's been there all day and didn't get my message and it's obvious that she's pissed that I'm late!
So I spend until 5:15 with her on her thesis when I have to leave to go get my boyz, spend an hour getting much-needed groceries, and come home to find a message from the same student to call her right away as soon as I get home because she has some urgent questions. I grab something to eat and end up on the phone with her until after midnight working on the thesis presentation, and we don't get through it to her satisfaction so I agree to meet with her at 9:30 the next morning (getting more than a little fed up at this point! Who's thesis is this anyway, lol?!? But she can't seem to do it without my continuous help at this point and I really want her to well -- also, since I'm her supervisor, if she does a really bad job, it reflects on me). She sends me her final powerpoint presentation by email after we get off the phone along with a note emphasizing how important it is that I am there at 9:30 and not to be late because there's still soooo much work to do for her to be ready, etc etc
So that brings us to today... I set my alarm for 6:45, manage to refrain from hitting the snooze button, and am all awake and ready to go at 9:00 -- right on schedule! That's when I hear Liam crying. I go downstairs to find him gulping back major tears and saying that Jesse pushed him. Jesse claims he just walked past him and this is confirmed by Jesse's friend who had slept over the night before. It's not like Liam to be this sensitive... then I notice that his cheeks are flaming red and his nose is running. I feel his forehead -- burning hot! I take his temperature -- 102 degrees! Poor baby...
But nooooo, pleeeeeeeease... not today!!! Today is my student's thesis defense!!! This is a HUGE big deal that has been scheduled for two months and I absolutely HAVE to be there!!!
In a panic, I call my amazing neighbour, but no answer (and they don't have an answering machine or voice mail). With nothing short of dread, I called my student. It was now 9:10 and I was supposed to be there at 9:30. To my great irritation, she answered the phone sounding half asleep and quite apathetic as she told me that she had just woken up and would need at least an hour to get ready... I honestly don't think she had even planned to call me! But I choked back my irritation because I had another problem to deal with right now...
I spent the next hour trying in desperation to find someone to look after Liam. I took the older boys to school, passed by my neighbour's house and knocked on the door -- it was unlocked, both cars were in the driveway, but when I hesitatingly opened the door and called out "hellooooo?" there was no response. It was weird. I didn't know what to do. I went home and called her again... and again... every 10 minutes, but no answer. I tried calling two friends in Halifax even... an hour's drive away... to see if they could come over and look after him... but again, no answer. Then in desperation I really swallowed my pride and called a couple of local people who I'd talked to regularly in the very distant past... "Hello... Charmaine? I know it's been 8 years, and I'm sorry to call you like this, but I reeeeeeallllly need a favour!" They had other commitments too, not surprisingly, lol!
This blog entry probably doesn't even come close to capturing the stress I was feeling at this point! Liam was completely out of it... I thought of taking him with me, but I knew that would never work. I just didn't know what to do! OMG, the stress of motherhood!!! Sometimes it's so hard being a grown-up!
My last resort -- I called Jesse at school and told him I would have to come and get him and bring him home and he'd have to stay with Liam for the day. But Jesse was beside himself...
"NOOOOOOOOOO... Mom... Noooooooo... pleeeeeeease... you can't DO this to me!!! My favourite classes are today!!! Noooo, pleeeease, can't you find someone else, pleeeease?!?!?"
I hung up on the verge of tears... I didn't want to ruin his favourite day at school, but what else could I do?
So Liam and I set off to bring Jesse home... and then Liam had a brain-wave... "Mom, maybe Sue (the neighbour) just went for a walk and we can find her!" So we started driving around our small town looking for Sue. And whaddaya know -- the child was right!!! But poor Sue, when we found her! I was just beside myself... words tumbling out as I tried to explain... and she was calm and collected and came to the rescue as usual... "Ohhhh, poor boy... let me get my things and I'll come to your place." I honestly don't know what I would do without her!!!
I called my student, then rushed off to the university... and she didn't show up until an hour after I got there (grrrrrrr!). And when she did, she was all wound up about how little time there was... she was a mess. We had received the external examiner's comments the week before, and they were extremely critical of her research design and data analyses, so she was expecting the worst. I tried to calm her down, tried to go through the presentation again with her, pointing out that she could defend her research against every one of his criticisms, that her studies were well done, but there was no helping her.
Finally, as we were heading out to the building where the thesis defense was to be held, I let some of my frustration with her show... I told her very bluntly that she'd better stop thinking of this as the moment she was to be fed to hungry sharks and start looking at it has her one big opportunity to show off all the hard work she had done over the past three years... that she wasn't going to the electric chair, she was going to complete the final stage of her master's degree... and that she had better pull her herself together! I said I was going to move my van and would meet her up there.
I guess whatever I said actually helped because by the time I got there, she had calmed down a lot. We got things set up, the examining committee arrived, and the thesis defense began. AND, she did a great job! The presentation was clear, and with the exception of going completely blank at the first question (which was from the feared external examiner, but was a question she had expected and rehearsed a great answer to), which resulted in a long, painful silence while she searched through her notes (and managed to recover), she did a good job of answering the numerous (and often difficult) questions! She has to make a few revisions to the thesis itself (which is normal), but once those are done -- it's OVER!!!! You cannot imagine how happy I am!
I honestly want to quit academia. Seriously. But that's another discussion for another time. Right now, the week can only get better!
And on that note, I must go and curl up with poor Liam who tonight has a fever of 104 (waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in) and is drifting in and out of a fitful sleep while watching "Chicken Little", poor baby!
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