No Blogging? Did I Leave the Country Again?

No, no one left the country, I just left home, as in to work outside of it, for the first time in years and years. Oh sure, I've given the occasional conference, done volunteer work, I even escape weekly for some writing time, but this was a week of working every single day, including Sunday, somewhere else. There was also the little matter of injuries to both adults in the house, three doctor visits for ill children (I never go to the doctor, they were really not well!), and the holidays with all the joy, chaos and fabulous family visits that they entail.

I began the job with my arm in a sling, which explains why I had not written for a week or so before the job. Too much yoga on top of lots of snow shoveling on an old injury, and voila...no more functioning right elbow. (No, I did not shovel the snow onto my elbow, for those of you who do not own a snow shovel in Florida or southern France. One uses ones elbows and shoulders and back to remove the snow from the driveway in order to go to work.) The third day I had to drive through a snow-storm and eight inches of fallen snow to get to work. Then my children kindly passed on the awful cold they've been fighting.  I can appreciate just how bad it was, first-hand. My poor husband outdid himself on snow removal and helping Santa set up a trampoline in the dark on Christmas Eve, and hurt his neck. He still took care of us all while I was working, but he was in lots of pain, poor guy.

The job? My favorite, outside of parenting and homeschooling; interpreting. I have been hired to translate English to French and back again for different reasons, as needed around the community, and I am enjoying every minute of it.  I get to be the go-between to facilitate understanding when two people cannot connect in a common language. This is what I did before children, mostly for industry, relocation and the scientific community. This time it has taken me to places I have never been and shown me some sides of life I had not known. Not everyone has had the fortune most of us take for granted; parents who care about you, a safe home, sane siblings and step-parents.

How will this all work out with homeschooling? We will take it one day at a time, and make lots of plans for either type of day. It promises excitement and a chance for learning the skills of adaptation. Learning can happen in more than one situation.