The Kindness of My Villagers

"I get by with a little help from my friends."
― Ringo Starr

If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes kind, flexible and very organized villagers to help keep things going when a mother travels.

I am blessed to have a village populated with some of the most generous women I know.  They were pressed into service this week and this is a big thank you to them for not only shuttling my children to where they needed to go, but also being especially kind and reassuring to them while their mother was gone.

(Let me just say that my husband is terrific and has no problem on his own with our children -- once when I called from a business trip to the other side of the country, I found out that he had taken them on a road trip.  But that is another story...  My husband's work week and three different school schedules and myriad school activities present a challenge.  Hence, the deployment of my villagers.)

Some villagers were on active duty with precise and detailed instructions.  Others were on reserve duty.  I tried to spread out assignments in an attempt to not overly burden anyone.  The villagers picked up and shuttled my children, fed them healthy snacks and dinner, texted me with updates and photos, called me so that my children could say hi, and conducted a covert operation to borrow a missing uniform item.  They took care of what needed to be done.  No questions asked, no consulting necessary.  These are pros, after all, at the important task of mothering.

For my part, I was able to take care of business, secure in the knowledge that my children were getting to where they needed to go and that they were receiving some extra attention and TLC, thanks to the kindness of my village people.