Earlier this week,  a friend of mine posted the image below. I was scrolling through my Instagram feed while standing in line by myself, and when I saw it, I actually laughed out loud. I couldn’t help myself because, although I’m not falling apart or crazed like Cruella de Vil [not today, anyway ha!], I know what’s it’s like to juggle all of the things [and more!] mentioned in this tongue-in-cheek meme.

And keep up on my blog posts!

The past two weeks of my life included birthday celebration(s), the final touches of planning and executing a fairly large-scale event, and a whole bunch of other things (which I’ll maybe write about at a later date. One of which includes the release of a study on the gender wage gap that exists in Cincinnati)—and they flew by before I even realized it.

That event I mentioned was the YWCA annual Stand Against Racism. This year’s theme was Women of Color (#WOC) Leading Change. Check out this post, if you’re wondering “why women of color?” During the event, we highlighted and elevated the voices of local, dynamic #WOC leading change in the Cincinnati area.

When I tell you a miracle happened that day–I’m not being hyperbolic. Let me give you a little background. We scheduled it to take place in a public, outdoor area in Downtown Cincinnati called Fountain Square. Which is awesome–unless there’s inclement weather. And there’s really no way of knowing, particularly when you book the space months in advance. So earlier this week, I’m checking the forecast and it calls for FIRE AND BRIMSTONE [well…it called for heavy rain and thunderstorms, which might as well have been fire and brimstone when you’ve got the success of an upcoming outdoor event depending on the weather outcome].

Please tell me why there was rain and ominous storm clouds all morning until the moment we started setting up on the square when THE SUN CAME OUT and stayed out during the entire two-hour event. And, get this—thee moment we thanked folks for attending, the sky opened up and it started raining sideways.

Check out the awesome evidence below.

As Tweeter (is that a thing? if not, I’m making it a thing) @lukeblocher put it: “Like a morning we can surely hope for, the skies clear just in time for the #StandAgainstRacism

The skies didn’t just clear, the event was sandwiched between heavy downpours and not even a hint that the sun would come out for the entire event. It was pretty awesome.

MAINTAINING PATIENCE

Other things that also happened this week may give you an idea of why I laughed at the meme (above) I began this blog post with. Some of the teachers at my daughter’s school are working my nerves. Case in point, a few days ago, my daughter says to me “I can’t get sick because I can’t go to the nurse.” Let me provide you with some background.

My daughter’s birthday was also this past week. Tuesday was the big day and she talked her grandpa into taking her to Starbucks that morning before school (I’m hoping it was a decaffeinated beverage, but I’ll never know. I’m pretty sure it contained sugar, though). So by the time classes were about to start, she had a really bad headache. When the bell rang, instead of going straight to her first class (orchestra/violin) she heads to the nurse’s office. The nurse tells her to drink some water and go to class. My daughter goes to her class and the teacher tells her he is going to write her up for skipping class (she was TWO MINUTES late, btw) because she doesn’t have a note from the nurse. My daughter goes back to the nurse to get a note, but she won’t give one to her.

At this point, my daughter starts panicking. She doesn’t skip class or do things to defy teachers/authority at school and she doesn’t understand why they’re doing this. So she calls me and she’s really upset because she thinks she’s going to get in trouble for “skipping class.”  When I call the nurse, she says, “It’s not my policy to write a note for a student if they didn’t have permission from their teacher to come see me.”

Although I’m thinking “Oh. Okay. But it IS your policy to send the incorrect student on a trip to an offsite clinic to be screened for something without receiving permission from her parent which is what happened to my daughter when this same nurse incorrectly told her to go and get on a bus in the middle of the school day once—but THAT is a story for another day).  

Instead, I express to her that this isn’t something that my daughter is making up—and that I would tell her she had to live with the consequences of her actions, if she’d done something wrong. The nurse reluctantly says she’ll call the teacher and attempt to straighten things out, but in the same breath says that she doesn’t think he’ll budge. Thankfully, the office administrator who witnessed my daughter stopping at the nurse’s office writes her a note.

Just two days later, my daughter’s math teacher wouldn’t allow my daughter to leave her classroom to use the restroom, telling her that she could go but she’d receive a lunch detention the following day [ummmm...excuse me?]. I now have a decision to make. Confront her (not a hostile confrontation, but a confrontation from a parent who thinks that said actions are completely ridiculous) and risk said confrontation resulting in negative consequences toward my daughter (blatant or otherwise). Or maintain my calm and hope to ride the rest of this school year out without further incidents.

What would you do? Please comment below.

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