Small Miracles

Whether it's the prayers of concerned parents/grandparents, or one of those tender mercies that come when you need them most, Robert slept last night. There was a small disruption about 10pm, but then he slept through to 6am. My throat was also significantly better today. Better than it's been in a long time.

Just in time.

I woke up early this morning to meet my Visiting Teaching companion, Emily, at the house of our Visiting Teachee, Martha, at 7:30am. We loaded ourselves and Robert (10 months), Emily's baby (8 months), and Martha's two children (2 and 10 years old) into my companion's minivan and hit the road towards Chicago. Snow was falling and the wind was bitterly cold. Robert was all smiles in that car full of girls. We made it to the Mexican Consulate in record time, despite the weather, the traffic, and a dysfunctional set of windshield wipers and wiper fluid dispensers that only made the dirty street spray MORE opaque. We had to stop a couple times for Emily to pour windshield washer fluid on the windshield by hand. The kids were unbelievably cooperative, sweet, and easily entertained (that's why I was there...to entertain kids while my companion drove), but it took a lot of energy from me. Good thing I had slept well the night before, eh?

We dropped off Martha at the Consulate and took the kids to a mall to walk around. Well, we tried to anyway. Twenty minutes later, just as we found the mall (which was strangely, and disappointingly NOT an indoor mall), Martha called to tell us she had left some important papers in the car. We drove back to give her the papers. We then headed towards an indoor Playplace at a McDonalds. Um. Chicago construction and traffic made that impossible, too. I've grumbled about Chicago before. We just don't get along.

Anyway, Martha's appointment would be done in 20 minutes or so, so we turned back and found one of those 30-minute-free-parking spots near the Consulate. We changed diapers in the back of the minivan with light snow and an icy breeze racing around the babes' exposed nethers. Poor kids. Then we let the kids "run around" in the car and eat their lunch. Martha called to let us know that everything was done and in order. She was just waiting for someone to hand her the finished document and there was no telling how long that would take. Unfortunately, Emily had to leave right away or she would miss her appointment that afternoon. We had planned for this contingency, but hoped we wouldn't have to use it. Martha and her kids would have to take the shuttle back home. I quickly made the reservation by phone while we unloaded the kids and Martha met us outside. We had to leave quickly, so the shuttle instructions and goodbyes were very brief and hurried. Then Emily and I headed back home.

We got back to Champaign-Urbana and I immediately hopped in the car to go get Alice (Bobby, Marianne, and Kristin all worked together to get Alice where she needed to go and be. She had a splendid day and told me all about it when we got home. Craft class, dance class, and playing at Will's house...best Tuesday EVER, Mom!)

All of those events just kinda fell into place. It was a long day, but I didn't feel tired until I was home again with both Alice and Robert. Then the whiny, needy, noisy parts of the "witching hour" kicked in and I could feel how much the day had already taken out of me.

I don't know why I'm blogging about this except just to spit it out and make it stop spinning around in my head. I don't feel like I learned anything particularly poignant. I think I SHOULD have learned something from this...some sort of Visiting Teaching miracle or experience I could share in Sunday School, but it's not there. I didn't improve my relationship with either my companion or Martha. I hardly talked to either of them the whole time. We got the job done but I didn't improve any situations or lives. I still feel just as awkward with both of them.

Bummer. All that trouble and nothing to show for it :(