Beware the Ides of March

Ever have one of those days...

Not that it's a great day, or even a particularly horrible day, just one of those days where you feel like you've been twisted and turned up-side-down 12 times and all you can think is, "Huh?" Today was like that.

On Mondays I don't start work until 10 am so I took the extra half-hour to meet the landlord of the complex I'm trying to get in to and see if I could sway his decision to rent to me. I was expecting to get in there around 8 (when the sign on the door says the office opens) talk to the guy for a few minutes, and be on my way by 8:30 at the latest.

Didn't happen.

The manager came in around 8:30 and then, when I tried to give him the $800 holding deposit he said, "I got your credit score back and frankly, there are a couple other people with better scores. I want to help you though so just hang on to that." To say I was crestfallen would be an understatement. I've been looking everywhere for a 3 bedroom place that I can afford and this was my last hope. If I didn't get this place, I'd have to go back to a 2 bedroom. NOT ideal when you have 5 people.

I started to explain why I think I am a good risk (full time job, will be getting a better job once I pass the NCLEX, support is through the department of child support services instead of cash from the kids' dad, etc.) and he asked what kind of work I did. I tried to explain that I'm more than a glorified lifeguard and he seemed satisfied. Then he asked me about my kids. Specifically if any of them were "into gangs" or if they "wore their pants down around their butts". I told them that my boys were both in Scouts, my daughters were active in their church groups, and we all went to church every week. He asked if we were Jewish (I work at a Jewish community center) and I said, "No, we're Mormon... LDS"

His face broke in to a wide grin and he asked what ward we were in and how long we'd been members. I realized he must know some thing about the church so I answered his questions and asked him if he was LDS. Turns out he is... although inactive. After that, he said he'd decided to help us out and would pass on the other applicants. He took my initial deposit, we worked out the details of the rest of it, and he gave me my new address.

Of course by then it was almost 9 and I had to get to Palo Alto (from south San Jose) by 10.

I made it to work, did the bit of paperwork I needed to finish, and started guarding. I kept breaking out in random giggles and laughs. A few people looked at me funny but I really didn't care. I also spent about 2 1/2 hours singing hymns of praise in the sunshine of California "winter".

Big event #2 came about an hour before my guard shift was supposed to end. A woman came in with her 3 kids (I'm guessing ages 11, 6, and 4). We have a rule that children under 7, who can't pass a basic swim test, must have a parent in the water. They were the only family in the pool so I let it slide when the mom pulled the legs of her jeans up to her knees and stood in the water ankle deep while the 4 and 6 year-olds played. The 11 year-old did the same as her mom but was in and out of the water. The 6 year-old passed the swim test and the 4 year-old, while unable to swim, was pretty water savvy.

I SHOULD have made the mom stay closer. I SHOULD have enforced the rules as written. Now, before you get too worried, no one was hurt. The 6 year-old gave the 4 year-old a noodle float to play with and they were doing fine... until the little 4 year-old decided (while standing in waist-deep water) to jump over the noodle. No problem with that until her knees get hung up on the noodle and the rest of her is dangling, head first, over the other side. She tried to bounce on her hands to right herself, couldn't do it and started to panic. I jumped in the water, she rolled over, fell off the noodle, and took a gasping breath of air as I reached her.

Mom also came deeper in the water... although looking back on it now, she stayed just far enough away that she didn't get her jeans wet... and I said, in the most civil voice I could muster, "This is why we have the 'arm's length' rule."

Emily (my boss) came out of the office and the ONLY thing I remember saying to her was something stupid about not blowing my whistle. The family left shortly after that, Emily gave me a dry shirt and put my pants through the spinner. I put them back on when I went on my rotation outside and they dried pretty quickly. The rest of my guard shift passed with out incident.

Swim lessons, though... that was another story.

My private lesson (the child that happily SCREAMS through the lesson while doing just about everything I tell him) decided that today he was going to not only smile and laugh and talk to me, but he blew bubbles, floated on his back, learned front AND back ready position, and generally had a great day. BEAUTIFUL! It was a great way to end my work day. I had a few parent's asking if I knew who the instructor was and I happily told them that the instructor would meet the class right over by the 4 ft well.

Guess who the instructor turned out to be? YUP! Me. I didn't mind, really. It was a fun class and I had a new student today who was a little bigger and more daring than the others. He splashed and kicked and learned what I was trying to teach him... except the whole, "ALWAYS keep one hand on the wall" rule. I had my other student about 8 ft from the wall kicking on his tummy when I saw my new student's hair... well, the top of his hair... sticking out of the water and two little hands groping for the wall. His mother made it to him before I did and pulled him up to sit on the wall.

At this point I felt 2 ft tall. Class was over so I told the other child he did a great job and went to talk to my scared student. I was able to get him to stop crying long enough to apologize for letting that happen and to ask him if I could show him what to do if that happened again.

He got back in the water with me, we worked on jumping towards the wall and he was ok after that. I apologized to his mom, reported to Emily (she must think I'm a spaz after today) and got in my car.

Wait, no. I was still at work when I got a phone call from Dana saying that Jordan was in too much pain to walk and I'd have to take her in to urgent care tonight. I had an apointment for Jordan for tomorrow, but if she can't even walk, maybe it can't wait. I called Kaiser, they set up a telephone interview with a doctor, and I drove home.

I DID manage to get a shower in before the doctor called back and she said that the best plan (since Jordan seems to be about where she was yesterday) is to keep the apointment with her regular doctor and give her some pain killers if she wants them.

I'm about to go tuck everyone in and I can honestly say that I'm glad today is almost over. I can also say that if anything else happens I just may dance naked in the streets JUST to get put in jail long enough to collect my wits.

CHEERS!!