I have been waiting for today all week. Today was the glorious day when I could walk out of work with two glorious weeks of vacation before me. No alarm clocks, no responsibilities....just rest and relaxation. I left work and strolled to my car enjoying my new found freedom. As I was driving home, I started thinking of all the things that have to be done, the plans that have to be made, the people we want to connect with....oh well, so much for those carefree vacation days.
As I look at what I have to accomplish before the routine starts again, I find myself reflecting on the summer. It seems like it was just yesterday....
It seems like it was just yesterday, that I was mourning the end of a 2 week break and getting ready to return to work. I was fraught with anxiety. There had been a lot of changes at work just before the break. Assignment changes, classroom changes, staff changes, student changes. I was really going into a totally new and foreign situation. I was going to be with students I was unfarmiliar with and staff that had never worked together. I was trying to plan my approach and as always, I worried about how things would work out. To say that first day was a bit hectic might be an understatement, curve balls were thrown...and here we were students and staff trying to understand each other and get through the day. I had never worked with any of the staff before. I knew some of them only slightly and then there was a kid from college that was going to be working in my room for the summer. So he was completely new to the situation. His older brother was one of my colleagues and pals. It was an added extra stress, because I wanted him to have a good experience. I had all I could do to drag my overwhelmed and frazzled self to lunch that day, where we all shared the trials and tribulations of our morning. My friend asked how things in my room were. I believe my reply was "I don't know why your brother hasn't already run out of here screaming". Thankfully, each day got better. We began to settle into a routine and rhythm...slowly but surely. There was this poor 19 year old kid in a room full of 50-something year old moms. Toward the end of the week. I think I pulled him aside and told him I was sorry for how crazy everything was, and told him I knew it couldn't be easy working in a room with 5 moms constantly telling him what to do. He assured me he was fine and everything was great. I told him what a great job he was doing, while wondering if he might perhaps be on some kind of mind altering substance.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town...my girls were starting their camp counselor jobs. Cara had worked at that camp last year and there were a few familiar faces to her, but there were a lot of new counselors. They worked long days but came home with anecdotes and stories about campers and co-workers. There were some counselor bonding activities after camp and there were a few times that a couple of the counselors came and hung out at our house between camp and one of the activities. I loved that. I love meeting the friends. My kids have some phenomenal friends and my life is truly better for knowing them. The counselors went to the drive-in once, but also had a series of game nights. Out of these game nights came a bunch of running jokes...I have heard the stories of some of them...but couldn't actually retell them. As the stories were told to me, they were always told while laughing...and I will admit that I just keyed in on how happy the girls were, and didn't really pay attention to the details. But I do know that after playing a Harry Potter game, the term 'Fizzy Whizzbang' became an exclamation often used by one person in particular...."Fizzy Whizzbang" was used as an exclamation for wonderful happenings. I would hear about all the Fizzy Whizzbang variations as well.
Back over at my job, we were all bonding over scavenger hunt stunts, and brownie bake-offs and these two songs that kept following us around..."Blurred Lines" and "Get Lucky"...and the lyrics to these songs caused a bit of discussion between our young adult and those of us who were a tad older. But we were also having great fun with our amazing students and staff and dancing to those catchy songs...sometimes we wondered if we were supposed to be having as much fun as we were.
Today was our last day for the summer and Cara and Alyssa finished up their working on Sunday. I am thinking about how much some of Cara and Alyssa's new coworkers have quickly become dear friends. Alyssa came downstairs the other night and had been texting one of her new friends who had already returned to school and declared that the friends made this summer were of an enduring nature, and that, in fact, she and this one friend were discussing the fact that they wanted to remain in each others lives. They were being intentional about continuing their new found friendship. I love it!!
But things this summer haven't always been a bowl of cherries. Sometimes life gets overwhelming and we just wish for someone Harry Potter-like to come with a wand and use a spell and lighten our load, and fight against our own personal dark lords. Alyssa experienced some difficult situations and interactions at camp this year and it was Mr. Fizzy Whizzbang himself, that advocated for her and talked her down off the ledge. I have said it before, I will say it again. As a mother, the most important thing to me is to know that my children, no matter what their age, are surrounded by people who value them and care for them. Alyssa could not have gotten through this difficult situation without someone coming to her rescue. It was also Mr. Fizzy Whizzbang that helped Cara with her resume, gave her a job contact, coached her through it, cheered her on...and then, when we recently found out she didn't get it, is helping her in the process of problem solving and moving forward. as he lives in that area. Cara is heading to the city in the fall. She will be starting her grad work. She can commute for awhile...but that is going to get old fast, so she is searching for work and an affordable place to live. Looking for a job is not Cara's forte....unfortunately a trait passed to her by her mother. She is not good at knocking down doors. She is not good at selling herself. Alyssa and I joke that Cara doesn't know how to flirt...she just knows how to do Cara...she doesn't really know how to be someone she isn't, to put on a show. So this finding-a-job-in-the-big-city task is daunting...and she could never have gotten as far as she has in her vision of what to do and where to live if it weren't for someone trying to guide her. Mr. Fizzy Whizzbang is a hero to my girls. He has, perhaps unknowingly, saved the day a few times now. And because he is a hero to them, he is a hero to me.
Maybe that's what I love about Harry Potter....three friends saving the day, saving the world...and in the process saving each other. They were heroes to the world...and heroes to each other. We often think of heroes as accomplishing extraordinary feats of bravery. But.....maybe the real heroes are just the people, the friends, the coworkers that take the time to be there. That save your days in little ways that are really quite huge. That are heroes who save the day so that maybe you can save someone elses.
Then my thoughts turn to my summer heroes. My kids are always my heroes. My students are always my heroes. I can't even put it into words how their smiles and laughter turn a sour day sweet. And there is the matter of these people that I barely knew 6 weeks ago...and now I treasure. I treasure them because they have made me laugh when I was a ball of stress. I treasure them because they have eased the burden of the day. Six weeks ago I was so anxious about the summer. They have saved my day, my summer. They have made a difference...they have been my heroes.
And there is the matter of this spirited, competitive, over-confident, playful, caring, sweet, 19 year old guy, with a heart bigger than the muggle and wizarding worlds combined....who has been my hero and saved my day a few times this summer....and who has been a hero to my coworkers and saved their days, I know this to be fact....and has definitely been a hero to those awesome kids.
I hope that I too am able to be a hero to people sometimes. That I can lighten the load, and ease the way. Tonight I am so grateful for the heroes of our summer.
Alyssa goes back to school next Sunday, but she is packing up the love and memories made with new friends from camp who from time to time will contact her and save her day.
Cara is looking at an apartment found by yet another hero in our life. I don't know where she will work, where she will live, when she will go...but I do feel better that she won't be totally alone down in that big city....because I know that she has at least one friend there, who from time to time will save her day. And you know what I say about that? Fizzy Whizzbang!!!!!
My 19 year old protege went home in tears today....because there were a bunch of amazing kids and staff this summer that became his hero right back. And you know what I say about that? I didn't have to stay up all night to get lucky...I just had to go to work.
And the heroes came and saved the day. And I hope I can save their day one day too.
The End.
"We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving"
~ J.K. Rowling
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