Learning how to parent on the run

Tonight was interesting. At 5:30 I had a dinner for all of the former Bethel College board members, followed at 7:30 by the annual corporation meeting to handle the business of the college and inevitably to process the termination of our president that took place in August.

And I forgot to get a sitter.

Megan's show opens tonight (probably intermission-ish time as I type) and it's been on the calendar for months, so this was all on me. Maggie had a sleepover, so one kid down. In the process of rushing home on my scooter to figure out what to do with Lennon, my cellphone got soaked in a downpour. Ease of access to information/people? Gone.

I had some options but either didn't have my shit together enough to act or didn't have the will impose on others' plans.

So what did we do?

I took a deep breath and I acted on a thought that occured to me during my interview for the Director of Admissions. I was asked how I would manage the number of hours required for the job. In answering that I already work pretty much 24/7, I described the way my work environment would embrace families, embrace kids, and make work possible for people with families.

Lennon often tells me that he wants to work at Bethel with me when he gets big (a sure-fire melter for this daddy), so tonight I put him in a button-up, pulled a sweater vest over his head, stuck my extra nametag on him and we went to work!

He did great! Perfect? Not by a stretch. Were some people annoyed? I suppose they probably were. But Lennon and I did the dance of negotiation, communicated verbally and nonverbally, laughed quietly while important things were happening, and made it through. I walk away from this experience extremely proud of keeping my cool, breathing deep and keeping communication open with my son instead of allowing myself to lose patience at key moments. I hope we'll be better for it.

The meetings? Anticlimactic. I'll take it.