So, what do you do?

Life here is pretty easy, but in some ways can be really difficult.

My friends live across the hall. She teaches sixth grade science, he is a house hubby, and their two year old son is best friends with my cat. Little Man had been sick over the weekend with some kind of vomity stomach flu. He was taken to the hospital, given fluids and antibiotics, and was taken home within a couple of hours. Not that bad, right?

Yesterday, his parents were BOTH struck ill with the same stomach flu. Unfortunately for them, it hit them HARD and both were severely dehydrated and weak within hours. Dehydration kills here. A friend drove them to the hospital. We waited, and waited...they do a lot of that here, as well. Finally, they were admitted for an overnight stay with IV's of fluids, etc. But what about Little Man?

We have a close knit community at our school. Some of us have become like family. So, without a fuss, Little Man was brought home from the hospital. Sure, it took two of us to get him fed, bathed, changed, and put to bed, but hey, he's a toddler. They're like that. I stayed until midnight, then our other friend took over. She stayed the rest of the night and called out of school to stay with him today.

Why was that necessary?

There are no simple daycares here. Most people employ nannies, or if their child is in a daycare, it's long term. There aren't any daycares where you can just drop your child off every now and then. In addition, we're all a long way from the large family and friend networks we're accustomed to. One can't call Grandma, the BFF, or the in-laws. Most of the time, we're all we've got.

To that end, the principal was quite understanding. She found coverage for my friend who was babysitting, and I took my sick friend's sixth grade classes. With assistance from my good friend and teaching partner, because this sixth grade is a tough lot. Saintly patience is required. And at one point I did inform them that if they didn't behave I was going to bury them up to their necks in the sand and leave them in the desert. I didn't, though ;)

When I got home from work, I ran over to my sick friends' apartment armed with the knowledge that they were being released soon. The babysitting teacher had passed Little Man off to one of the high school teachers, so while the apartment was quiet I did their dishes. My friend came and we did the laundry. The high school teacher brought Little Man down, and I made dinner. When our friends walked in after checking out from the hospital, Little Man was ensconced on the couch eating watermelon and watching Shaun the Sheep.

We handled it. Not a lot of choices in this situation, but we all pulled together and rolled with it. It takes a village to raise a child, and the village stepped up.

Nice work, peeps.