My Hero Charger

 

This post is tot show one thing my husband does that makes me adore him.

I started the day blah, but it only got worse from there. As I went through my day, nothing seemed to be going well. None were of epic proportions. There were just so many small things to go wrong. To start the day, morning sickness reared its ugly head in force. I thought I was going to see my toes come out of my mouth.

As I prepared breakfast for Chao lei and Jun, I discovered my toaster did not work. According to Jared, it worked fine for his breakfast. He went home for his lunch and said it worked for him then. The toaster must hate me.

Chao lei could not find his shoes. How did you lose your shoes? Especially when they should be removed at the door. Jun could not find her jacket. There is a hook beside the door. She hung it there yesterday. I know she did. I watched her. In a hurry, we pressed on without it. Not a good choice it turned out later.

Mercifully, I thought, we made it out the door and were on our way to school. It was raining so of course I turned on my wipers. The driver’s wiper blade broke off. Actually, it fell out of its socket but I did not know that at the time. The Scene: two children begin to bicker over what ever they chose to bicker over, probably something about one breathing the other’s air. Me, bouncing my head on the steering wheel then getting out and standing in the rain looking at my broken wiper having no idea what to do now. I actually considered calling a taxi and was about to when my neighbor poked his head out of his door and asked what was wrong. I told him and he immediately came outside, with no jacket or umbrella, and snapped my blade back in place. Total time he was in the rain? Thirty seconds… maybe. See me feeling like an airhead.

Arrival at school was fun. Some days, parents just do not think. Drop offs are usually well coordinated and happen very smoothly. I do not know what happened but this morning it was a nightmare. Traffic was backed up so bad the base police had arrived to clear it. I hate sliding into my classroom like one of my students… a half second before the bell.

Was there a hurried but smooth beginning to class time? Of course not! That would have been expecting too much. My whiteboard pens, which worked perfectly well the day before, suddenly had no ink. All. 8. Of. Them. Oh, and the office was out of black and blue pens, so I spent today writing in red. I am suspecting a student prank, but none confesses to it. They have pranked me before but usually they are not so disruptive and they confess quickly. I may have scared them a bit though. The first four pens that failed I simply walked to my waste basket and dropped them in. Beginning with number five, the pens began to go into the can with more… energy. By number eight, they were going in quite forcefully. My announcement that I was going to the office was rather curt. Who could blame them for not confessing? An apology is due to my students for my behavior.

Are you tired of my day yet? We just reached lunch time! I left my lunch at home. And not only my lunch but my wallet too so I could not even purchase a lunch from the cafeteria. Fortunately, I did not forget my phone, so Jared was able to call me. When I told him of my day so far, he said, “Hang on. I will be there in a few minutes.” True to his word, he brought me my wallet and my lunch that I had forgotten. I ate so fast though that I did not taste much. After a booster kiss and hug, I returned to facing my horrible day.

Someone pulled a fire alarm. Oh yay. Two hours were wasted and the inevitable student wrangling that resulted made the challenge more fun. I did not even send my students back to my class but to their next class.

Remember when I said that students’ behavior sometimes syncs to each other? Today was that day. There were so many little squabble to quell, one that almost came to blows. How doe a 5’ tall woman stop two 6’1” young men from coming to blows? On the first day of school, I broke boards by punching them… to establish dominance. It seems they remembered the lesson.

Finally! The end of the school day! Still raining, mind you. Guess what happened when I tried to leave? Wiper broke again. At least I had an idea of what to do. Just not the experience to complete the task at hand quickly. One of my male students volunteered to fix it for me and he did it in a few seconds. See me feeling like an airhead again.

I picked up Chao lei with no ill effects. Jun though, she was standing in the entryway but not out of the rain and without the jacket we had searched for that morning. See me bouncing my head on the steering wheel again.

Home. Finally. It is over. Yeah. Right.

Occasionally, the wind comes from a direction that leaves the entry of our house exposed to rain. Today was that day. When we got home, it as raining heavily so I rushed us to the door to stay dry as possible. For whatever reason, my key refused to work for me. As much as I fought it, the door would not open. After 10 minutes of standing in the pouring rain and fighting a door lock, Jared arrived home to greet his soaked wife looking like she had just gotten out of a pool. Since my key remained in the lock, he used it to open the door easily. REALLY? I mean REALLY?

I directed the children into the house and followed them in dripping wet. I was met by my hero, standing there with a towel that he began to dry me with. I think the relief of that was like tipping the first domino. All the frustrations of the day began crashing down and I began to sob. At that moment, Jared picked me up and carried me to the loveseat where he sat, with me on his lap sobbing and his arms wrapped around me, saying nothing. Just holding me. We sat there for three hours, two of which I was asleep. He could have carried me to our bed and laid me down but he never put me down. I woke to his phone ringing which resulted in him returning to the ship in a still wet uniform.

It seems my phone is not the only thing in the house that can be charged by sitting on something. I have a husband that I can sit on and be completely recharged. Unlike my phone's though, my charger loves me. I have full confidence that had his phone not rung, he would not have awakened me and we may well have slept there all night. I would have felt horribly guilty afterward.

This is the man I married. I cannot envision a day that he would not be willing to comfort me as he did yesterday. I am careful not to abuse it though. It is only that yesterday, I was desperate for recharging.