8:40 a.m. - 2008-04-24
emergency contact
This week has been crazy.
I started training for my new (second) job. I'm going to be implementing behavioral plans in home setting with kids who have autism. I will be doing about 10 hours a week. I know, I'm already busy but I'm trying to save enough to go on a teeny little 3-4 day vacation with Kevin and some friends in the late summer and pay for my books and such for grad school out of pocket - the less the amount my loans will be, the better. So, I've been training in the morning and then rushing off to my regular job.
Then our dryer broke. Or underwear that was in the washer has been air drying in the basement. Uncle Tim is coming over to fix it today and to have dinner with us - so that means I should be cleaning and not blogging.
Last night I left the center around 6:45 and one of my staff volunteered to stay until the last kid got picked up. 7pm is when we close and while her mother always comes last minute, she does always make it. Until last night. At 7:15 Lucas called me. By 7:40 we were in a phone-conversation panic. Her cell phone number didn't work and no one answered at home. She finally came after 8pm - her car had been towed. It prompted me again to ask myself - what the hell are we going to do the day that someone just doesn't show up, period. How long do you wait until you take the kid to the police station or home to your own house?
The part that killed me in this situation is that this mom and daughter have NO family and NO friends listed as emergency contacts except a 90 year old neighbor who doesn't drive (they live 20 minutes away.) It made me selfishly grumpy but mostly sad for them. I have never and would never live in a place where there aren't 5 people I could call who I know without doubt would go and get my kid in an emergency.
It makes me feel really grateful. Here, the possibilities are endless. I start going down the list of people who would do that for me in a heart beat. My parents. Any one of my 4 or 5 aunts/uncles that are local - even the grouchy, annoying ones from the OTHER side of the family. Amy and Scott. Marc and Kelly. Tolner. I have only known her husband for a couple of years, but I know if I called him he would do it. My neighbor Stacey. Or the neighbor on the other side, Leah. Even Jack and Tracey who we barely know are really sweet people with a kid who would help us out. My boss would do it. Any of my staff. Half of my vounteers. At least three people I worked with at the other after school program. Missy and Brandon. Mrs. Spingola - ok, she would be late and have a crisis in the middle of it, but she would try. Even my parents' friends - Frank, Nancy, Alice. In fact, if push came to shove and if all of those other people died in a nuclear holocaust, I can bet you that my mother's three current/former bosses from the past 25 years would drop what they were doing to help me.
I feel really grateful for all of that. It also makes me feel like the only place I would ever be willing to move again to is Athens, because the same kind of thing is true there.
Who is on your emergency contact list?
