October 20, 2009

What a day

I've had an interesting day. One, I really have no interest in reliving.

I had just sent the boys to school with the sitter, The groom had left for the gym, I'm in my pajamas, still in glasses (not contact lenses), when the sitter calls me crying. She is laying on the ground and has been hit by a car, the kids are fine, she's in pain. I tell her to start screaming at people to call 911, and I run out the door, down the street, in my pajamas.

She was only a couple blocks from our house and a block from school. Which means, people know us. People were with her, the police were there, the ambulance was pulling up, the nanny mafia had my children a safe distance away. She was clearly in shock, and worse, intimidated and afraid of people in authority, left unable to talk.

I'm an aggressive soul, I usually have no problem telling people what to do and taking charge, but when it comes to police, they really don't want a woman in her pajamas with bad breath, who is panting from running, telling them what to do. But yeah, we marched forward and they let me ride in the ambulance even though I wasn't "family" (really we are, it's just not by blood, and boy do I understand that).

The nanny network got the kids to school. This is something us city souls come to rely on, but the nanny network is faster than twitter. Many believe there is an invisible bond between souls (a red thread), but the nanny network, it is not invisible, you need not be family, it is just there. And I've come to trust it and thank its existence more times then countable.

Thank god at the ER we got a young female Latino doctor. I think an aggressive man poking and prodding would have put her in a coma (note - my sitter is Muslin, so I thank Allah it was a woman helping her undress). Who knows what kind of rage that would have brought out in me. But the little Latino, with hoop earrings, a head band, and half my age was what we both needed.

Tonight, I'm glad it all worked out. I'm glad she is fine - no broken bones, just bruises and more bruises likely to come in the next few days. The boys are fine, they tipped over, they were the talk of preschool and want to talk about it tonight. But they are fine.

And oddly, another opportunity for me to examine the definition of love and family. blood/genetics just doesn't count.

2 comments:

Musings from Kim K. said...

Holy Moses. I'm so glad it turned out as well as it did. Damn scary. See you in a few days. I can't believe I'm finally saying that.

Kevin said...

I agree, blood and genetics relate to the family we are born with. Some family is born, some are earned. People like to joke this time of year that you can't choose your family--but you can, as we well know. Since two of ours are adopted, everybody surrounding us can be friends, or they can earn family status by loving our kids like family would.

I have a best friend who lives 200 miles away. We visit him every few months, and stay the weekend. He plays with the kids, spends time with each of them, and loves them all like his birth nieces and nephews. He told me that he loves how all our kids call him "Uncle Mick". I told him, "you are their Uncle, brother. You earned that title a long time ago."

Caregivers, teachers, case workers, kindly neighbors, our dearest lifelong friends..they all can be family if they choose, and we welcome them. The more family they have, the better, we think.