Today? Really?

Ahhhhh Monday. The first full day weekday of 2010. Today was to be Maggie’s last day of winter vacation. School was to resume tomorrow…or so I thought. Today, Monday, was some sort of teacher in service day, or so I thought.

I asked Lucy, the night nurse, to get Maggie up early today. Maggie has really been sleeping in this vacation. I wanted her up early so she will be on schedule for tomorrow. She was up and in her chair at 7:05, which is great. She was still wearing her pajama pants, but that’s cool. It is a good thing she was up and at ‘em because about 5 minutes later the doorbell rang. I thought, "Who in the world is at my door at this hour?" I walked through the kitchen to the hall, my heart dropping with every step. It couldn’t be Janice, the school nurse, could it? School does not start TODAY, does it?

Indeed it does.

Oops.

Not only was Janice at the door, the school bus was outside with the lift down waiting to load Maggie and her wheelchair. Janice just laughed because she thought I was kidding about classes starting tomorrow. Then she looked t my face and realized I had really screwed up. I told her I would drive Miss Daisy myself. Janice had to get to school to deal with her other patient. She rides the bus with Maggie and deals with both Maggie and another child while at school.

Lucy had not left yet because she was finishing some charting. She helped me get Maggie ready to go to school. Maggie was so happy and laughing so hard at us running around like chickens with our head s cut off. Lucy had already done the feeding and diapering, which takes the longest amount of time. She changed Maggie out of her jammies while I filled the oxygen tank, programmed her talker, found the tray and pole and loaded up the suction machine and a bag of supplies.

I loaded Maggie and her gear into the van and took off for Mission High. Maggie was about 30 minutes late for school, but she was so delighted because she LOVES school and the fervor of getting there just added to her joy. She will be a tired girl this afternoon, that is for sure. I am going to have to go get her too because Janice’s car is at school and she cannot ride the bus with Maggie. That is fine. Maggie can get the additional joy of riding the bus tomorrow. You may think that is sarcasm, but it is not. Maggie thinks riding the bus is hilarious.

Suddenly I have five free hours. As soon as my blood pressure comes back down to earth, I am going to enjoy it.