I should have remembered Murphy's Law as my son and daughter-in-law jetted off on a romantic anniversary trip. Oh, we had watched the grandchildren hundred's of times over the years but this was for a full week AND the parents were to be out of the country. We seemed well prepared. My daughter-in-law had left a spread sheet, outlining every contact number I could ever possibly need, every after school activity children must be transported to and even times they had to leave the house to catch the school bus. At least I can claim that the first day went very well. Following that, not so much!
School was closed for teacher workshops so I planned to take the kids to the Zoo. Things are a little hectic there at the moment with several projects on the go at the same time. They could play mini-golf while I worked in the office on a few tasks. Thursday the sun came out...it would be a good day at the Zoo and we planned to go after lunch. Then I heard loud "come quick, Nanny" screams and opened the front door to lots of blood and tears. Our grandson had wiped out on his skate board in the driveway. Luckily, nothing serious that peroxide, polysporin and a lot of ice couldn't sooth but our trip to the Zoo was definitely off. Convincing the injured grandson that a call to his parents really wasn't necessary was a challenge but I managed to assure him mom and dad would worry unnecessarily (and likely wonder if grandparents were truly up to the task they had taken on?)
We'd make it to the Zoo the next day. I would keep them inside the house until we left to prevent any other injury. All was going well until my granddaughter insisted that Nanny look at her mosquito bites. And then about 2 hours later still more mosquito bites. It had been a very long time since I had diagnosed such a growing rash but in my heart I knew Murphy's Law was in action again. As I surfed the Internet for some confirming images - something not available to me as a parent - I learned that chicken pox was going to rule out any trip to the Zoo yet again. And once again, the challenge was disuading the grandchild not to immediately call Mom. (Can you imagine what thoughts would be going through the parents head as to what we were doing with their children in their absence). No, I would wait until I saw how bad it got and then place a casual call, perhaps the next day. (Should I start or end the call with, "oh by the way the kids are fine now".)
The good news is that the road rash (incident #1) started to heal nicely and the chicken pox was not accompanied by high fever. And I was able to prevent undue scatching by distracting my granddaughter with Zoo work! The Zoo's spring newsletter was due to be mailed out to donors and several hundred envelopes needed to be sealed and have address labels affixed. Engrossed in the chore, she hardly noticed as each new "mosquito bite" emerged.
The remaining days passed uneventually and when parents eventually learned of the now safely handled issues at home, there was not enough stress to distract from their enjoyment of a much needed vacation. They arrived home refreshed to happy and healing children and to grandparents who had proven up to the task to looking after their kids for a week...but who were now in definite need of a good rest.
No wonder the Lord arranges for you to have children when you are young.
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