Grandkids lead to very challenging 48 hours
Because their parents were in New York City, I quickly made my way through Pittsburgh traffic at the beginning of rush hour to pick up my Avonworth granddaughters to visit their cousins in Johnstown. Their bus pulled up at 3:45 p.m. I loaded them into the back seat of my Jeep, and off we went through a torrential downpour. When we arrived at their yaya’s, we had a quick dinner, and I drove on to Rockville, Maryland, where I’d sleep for a few hours before heading off to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Bethesda for a dedication ceremony and meetings.
After my meetings ended, I had a quick lunch with a former student and headed directly back to Johnstown to pick-up the two Pittsburgh granddaughters just in time to take them to see my Forest Hill’s granddaughters perform in Seussical the Musical. After their performance, we gave them lots of flowers and then headed to Eat n Park where all five kids ate and ate and ate. Because the Forest Hills parents were at a wedding in Florida, we went back to their house to watch the kids for the weekend. (I hope you’re tracking this . . . one set of parents in Florida and another set in New York City.)
Watching all six grandkids with no parents within hundreds of miles was truly a first. Forty-eight consecutive hours of parenting kids who, for that time period were virtually free-rangers, just like their chickens. This was a human mountain that would take some skill to navigate.
Friday night was pretty easy because, by the time the five us left the restaurant, the three year old had cried himself to sleep. Saturday morning, however, started pretty rough as little Pete woke up screaming and crying for his mother, and she was no where to be found.
In order to defuse him, I grabbed a giant teddy bear and staged a very ferocious bear vs. Poppa wrestling match that lasted for a good fifteen minutes. It ended with him laughing hysterically and with me, in a pile of Poppa perspiration promising to take him to the airport. That trip ended up being very bountiful because we got to see a private plane take off, another plane land, and then, a little two-man helicopter fly away right in front of our very eyes.
After the airport, we got the car washed, went to the drugstore and bought him his 157th toy car. Then we headed back to the house where we, once again, got ready to see the matinee for Seussical. It was another great performance.
The only major meltdown occurred after the show as we were getting ready to go to the Fuji Steak House for flaming Japanese food. Pete didn’t want to wear tennis shoes. His big brother, the Alpha-kid male of the group wanted him to wear them, but Pete would only agree to wear frog clogs. It was a crazy screaming match which ended up with all of us needing blood pressure medication or worse. The dinner was an amazing hit, however, and the night ended with everyone falling asleep watching a G-rated movie.
On Sunday morning, everyone woke up happy because all four parents were in flight and heading home. So, we went to Yia Yia’s for breakfast, tree decorating, game playing, and setting up the train set. Then I took five of the six to see a movie while the little one went for a Yia Yia walk.
Finally, I drove the Pittsburgh girls home, met their parents, and then spent the next three hours trying to figure out how to get a forgotten backpack delivered to school from Johnstown by the next morning. (Oh, by the way, I did.)
This was one weekend where teaching junior high school for ten years and administering hospitals for over 30 had prepared me well.
Nick Jacobs of Pittsburgh is a Principal with SunStone Management Resources and author of the blog healinghospitals.com