One day recently I got a 6:30am phone call from Cat and Jack's school saying that school was delayed due to a power outage. Cat had gotten up early to practice piano before school, so I sent her back to bed and adjusted my plan for the morning. We knew the outage wasn't weather-related, as we've had beautiful, unseasonably warm weather the last few weeks. We soon found out that there had been a fire in the vicinity of the school the night before which had knocked out the power in the surrounding blocks, including that of 5,000 residents. We were told that utility crews were working to restore power, school would begin at 10am, and to please send lunch with the children because lunch will not be provided in the cafeteria. Jack, who had told me the night before that he wouldn't be able to go to school the next day because he'd broken his armpit, was ecstatic at the thought of missing any amount of school. Cat, on the other hand, was disappointed to be missing any amount of school.
About two hours later, I found out that school had been delayed until 11am and that children should eat lunch before arriving at school because there would be no lunch period. Jack was even more excited at this news, and hopeful that school would be canceled altogether. Cat grew forlorn.
Then, at about 10:20, we found out that school had been canceled and we would make up the day in March. While Jack jumped for joy, Cat burst into tears.
We went about our day in a relatively normal fashion. We dropped Eliza off at her music class, made a quick trip to the library to get some books and movies, picked Eliza up, had lunch, took Eliza to school (since her school was not affected by the power outage), and picked her up at 3:30. Then we went to the playground for a bit before taking Cat to her piano lesson. When we got home from the piano lesson, the kids got to watch the first half of "The Parent Trap," which we'd picked up at the library in the morning. I was pretty excited for them to see it, since I remember watching it as a kid. (BTW, am I the only one of my generation who can't see Hayley Mills without thinking of "Saved By The Bell" ??) It turned out to be a pretty good day, even if Cat didn't get to see any of her friends.
On a related note.... The kids only watched the first half of "The Parent Trap" that night, but on the night we finished it, I had a memorable conversation with Eliza. Toward the end of the movie, she turned to me and said, "This movie will help you be nicer to Daddy!" I was a little surprised.
"I think I'm pretty nice to Daddy."
"Well, like more hugging and kissing."
Well I guess I could always do a little more of that...
Eliza is just getting herself some marriage insurance. Isn't it funny how their little minds work. She is covering all the bases she can think of isn't she. I think you are pretty nice to her daddy too. In fact her daddy is very lucky to have you!
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