An Apt Ending to a Crazy Week

This has been a crazy week in the Huang household. We had two important care-related sessions for Jada and one for Aaron, both of which both Amy and I attended. I had one long train ride to Harrisburg and another long car ride to Willow Grove, both work-related, which, combined with the personal time off for the kids' meetings, meant a significantly compressed amount of time . . . and I had massive amounts of meetings and deadlines to contend with. (My Monday schedule - 7-7:30 walk/subway to train station 7:30-9 train to Harrisburg 9-10 pre-meeting 10-11 meeting 11-12 post-meeting 12-2 train from Harrisburg 2-3 phone meeting 3-4 meeting at Jada's school 4-6 phone meeting. And, Tuesday was busier.)

On Amy's side, she had all the pre and post work on our kids' meetings, including a feverish run of phone calls to figure out how to get them everything they need. And she wasn't feeling well. And she was mulling over with me what we should do with Aaron, as his diagnosis from earlier this week was pretty severe, we just found out he tested really poorly from an evaluation last month, and we need to figure out whether more significant interventions are in order. Plus this was her last week for her prison rotation.

Finishing her last day of prison, we both separately thought celebrating at Philly Diner would be a good idea. And it was, except for our crazy kids. Jada was weepy even before she got there, and Aaron was defiant from the jump. After a long day at the end of a long week, they were crumbling before our eyes.

We were finishing up when Amy noticed Aaron needed a diaper change. I was keeping my eye on the clock, because our parking meter across the street was about to expire and Philly doesn't mess around. But I dithered, and by the time I had paid the bill, Amy had changed Aaron's diaper, and we had gotten everyone's coat on, dude was already writing us up. In the span of probably two minutes, our meter had expired, a ticket was being written up, and we were arriving at our car.

To add to the fun, Aaron ran out into the street between two parked cars - mind you, on a busy street in the pitch black night - and I nabbed him violently before he could get past the parked cars, causing him to cry. Jada was already crying because she had just been sassy with Amy and I had told her that as a result, she couldn't have a cookie when we got home. Both continued to cry as we drove home. And then, as we were stopped one block from our house, Amy thanked me for taking us all out to dinner, and instead of responding, I first said, "You can turn onto our street now," because I was jerkily more concerned about getting home as soon as possible than about acknowledging her heartfelt words of gratitude.

Needless to say, the bedtime routine was jettisoned, the kids tantrummed all the way to their rooms, Amy and I both earned ourselves several more grey hairs, and within minutes, all was quiet as our kids had passed out on their beds for the night. In short, it was an apt ending to a crazy week.

Please pray for us as parents. We love our kids to death, but they are very high-maintenance, and they have lots of extra needs, and we are worried about them, and we fall very short of what they need to be well. God has been good to us so far, in terms of providing insurance coverage and good schools and extra resources. And more is needed for their well-being: more instruction, more encouragement, and more energy and patience for their parents.