Pay It Forward

So March Break has come and gone and, yet, I can say it wasn't much of a "break" for anyone.

Throughout the week, everyone but Husband had some kind of flu. Baby Boy seemed to get two waves of it. Daughter had the worst bout, as she was feeling ill for about five days straight. And, of course, the day before two of us came down with it, I had a friend's child over who brought it back to his house. Amazingly, my middle sister and her kids came to visit us on a good day and nobody there got sick.

Apparently, though, many kids had it during March Break too, or so I learned once the kids went back to school this past week.

And, to boot, I took Baby Boy to nursery school and notice a sign reading that there was one case of Fifths Disease prior to March Break. "What's that?" I asked one of the teachers. "It's when the child has a rash on the face, sometimes the body, that makes them look like they've been slapped."

And all that time, I thought Baby Boy had wind-chapped cheeks. Mind you, I found the Glaxal Base Cream to work...

Anyway, now that March Break is over, I'm ready for spring. I just woke up and was greeted by a vista of snow. There's always one weird snowfall late in the season around here. I hope this one is it.

We had an eventful week, though.

We are officially poor. Husband signed away everything to buy a building on the main drag so he can relocate the business. He's scared but happy. Really, it should be okay in the long run but we've cut back on tons for now. It won't affect the kids too much, but they did stop karate which was $140 a month.

For a brief period of time, I lost Daughter. Her class was at a first communion retreat at the parish hall which happens to be across the street from our house. Her teacher told me that she didn't need to come to school; just walk her across and meet the class there at 9:30. Was that ever wonderful, if you have any idea what it is like to get three kids and myself ready for school/work.

It was a Tuesday, when Middle Child also goes to school (he goes full day every Tuesday and Thursday and then alternate Mondays), so I went to pick the kids up. No Daughter. I went to her classroom and learned that the teacher let her cross the road and go home. No, she didn't wait to see if she got in the house (which she didn't because I am the only person in this town to lock my doors). No, no one noticed that there were no cars in the driveway either.

So I raced home, expecting to see her shivering on the porch. Nope. I checked the backyard. Maybe she's playing in the treefort. No. I quickly drove around the neighbourhood to see if she walked back to school. No.

Okay, calm down. Maybe she went to Husband's work. It's about a 10 minute walk for her, right downtown, but she may have done it. I'll catch hell if she's not there, but I have to call him, I thought. Then I'll call the police.

I picked up the phone and noticed there was a message. "Hi Mum. I'm at the neighbours. I came home early and you weren't there, so can you pick me up when you get this message? Bye!"

It turned out my neighbour was walking past the house to pick up her kids from school and noticed Daughter. She asked what was going on, to which Daughter explained and said that she'd just wait; that I'd be home soon. "No you won't. I'm walking you back to my house. My husband is there to take care of you." And they set her up with some apples and cheddar while she waited. They're Block Parents so they were totally cool with it, but, shit, I swear that house glowed in my eyes that day.

I brought them a Dairy Queen Treatza Pizza the next day.