A phrase for Friday

Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe. -Robert Service

I think I'd better repeat the phrase above about 1 million times. Be master of your petty annoyances....UGH! Someone out there is bound to find humor in how my Friday went, so let me share......

First of all, let me remind you that I have greatly cut my work hours. Not really willingly, but I guess it has been a choice--like eating food and sleeping is a choice. Its just a sheer necessity. So.....today I was scheduled to spend my first nearly-full day in the field since school started. And then I found out that Jennica was going to have a substitute teacher. That, in itself, should have been a huge warning, but one of my appointments, in particular, would have been brutal to re-schedule. So Mike and I discussed it (yes.......I'm sharing the blame) and decided that since the classroom aide and Jennica's 1:1 aide would both still be present, she should be okay. Right?

At 11:15, my cell phone rang. I was in the middle of a property evaluation, but I carry my cell phone with me at all times for security reasons. I glanced quickly at the Caller ID and saw that it read only "private." So I didn't answer it. But I knew. In reality, even if the Caller ID had identified that the school was calling, there was only a 25% chance (1 in 4, right?) that the call would be Jennica-related. Uh-huh. Sure.

Of course, I completed my visit with the property owner and checked my messages. No surprises. Jennica was parked in the nurse's office, complaining of a stomach ache. If her regular teacher had been there today, I would have talked to her on the phone, and we would have problem-solved. I was 99% sure that the stomach ache was a symptom of anxiety from the change of routine. Hailey and I have a relationship that spans two years and a lot of hours dealing together with SPD. But Hailey's abscence was already the likely cause of the anxiety, and who else was going to have a clue how to lower anxiety in an anxiety-ridden situation? Not to mention that I was going to sound like one, nasty parent if I demanded that they send my daughter back to class.

But, from a sheer convenience standpoint, this is the only time in over a month that Mike and I were both over one hour's drive from the school. Of course. Thankfully, the nurse is a friend that was kindly able to understand the situation and, since Jen wasn't running a fever or barfing, was happily willing to keep Jennica with her until I could get there. (Thank you, Brenda!!) So.......Jen hung out. Took a nap. Made herself look as pitiful as possible. Enjoyed the sympathy.

So.....I showed up to find her resting comfortably. She'd just woken up from a lazy nap. Boots kicked off. Head on a pillow. Covered with a blanket. She was happy to see me, we retrieved her backpack from her classroom, and we came home. No stomach ache has been mentioned. Not once. See photo of my "appraisal assistant."

In reference to the phrase noted at the top of this post, this is certainly not a "worthwhile thing" to be overly annoyed with, but it was a "grain of sand in my shoe." Just gotta laugh and keep going.