The light on my office phone was blinking.
I could see the annoying notification through the window as I tried to herd high school students to their next class.
“What now?” I muttered.
I was in no hurry to answer. If experience was any kind of forecaster, there was either a parent on the phone wanting special privileges for her child or a school administrator on the phone wanting a chaperone for the holiday dance.
We were headed into Christmas vacation.
I didn’t want additional responsibilities, something administrators and parents tended to assume childless couples were seeking.
“Yes,” I said, and shook my head at a student offering me Doritos from a giant bag.
The voice on the other end was more friendly than mine was.
"You sound busy," he said politely.
I now realized this was our case manager. He’d notified us twice about coming in to update our fingerprints for the home study.
I didn’t have time to discuss schedules. If I didn’t get back into the classroom soon that bag of Doritos would become part of the carpet.
"It is busy," I agreed.
I watched through the office window as the student poured a pile of Doritos onto a friend’s desk.
So maybe too busy to go pick up a baby," the case manager asked.
The Doritos quickly ceased to be my biggest concern.
Cheerfully, I took the large bag and went around the classroom, giving every kid a serving, and dropped the half-empty bag in the trash.
Then I called the principal.
I’m sure he cringed when he saw his light blinking. Too bad.
You, Mr. Administrator, can find me a sub.
When your baby comes, you’ll figure it out. You’ll change priorities. You’ll not take on quite so many assignments. You’ll laugh more at the chips, and you’ll care less about the floors. If you don’t, you’ll go crazy.
Don’t go crazy. Babies don’t need crazy parents.
