We Are Oviously Not Very Bright

January 2014

If you read the previous post then you will know that finding - and keeping - childcare for our nine-year-old while we are away has been something of a debacle.  Although my mom is technically retired, she does work part-time - sometimes.  And when it comes to volunteering and bike-riding, that is one hella' active senior citizen!  Of course we have other friends and family in my hometown but most of them work full-time or are just not up for hanging with a possibly-energetic, bathroom-humor-loving 9-year-old boy.  Scheduling childcare around my extended family's ever-changing work schedules, vacations, and delicate sensibilities was starting to seem like hitting a moving target - with jello.

However, yesterday I had an epiphany.  I realized that we just so happen to have one of those sometimes-useful items commonly known as "a teenager."  As most of you who are familiar with teenagers know, when not moping or eye-rolling everyone to death, they can sometimes double as indentured servants/babysitters in times of need.  And this was most definitely a time of need!

But, Marti, you say, "How could you possibly forget that you just so happened to have a teenager lying about?"  Well, the truth is that that she had eye-rolled herself into blindess years ago and was currently tucked away in the attic trying to mope her eyes back into place...  Ok, no, not really.  Our teenager is only a part-time resident at our house, as she generally resides with her mom.  But it dawned on me yesterday that by the time of our trip, she'll be a high school graduate with no plans until the fall!  And best of all, she's unemployed and naively innocent about money so shipping her off to another state to watch her 9-year-old brother for a pittance sounds like the vacation of a lifetime to her!  Plus, she's good friends with my younger cousins and their friends and is vibrating with anticipation at the thought of getting to spend so much time with them.  And the fact that my extended family spoils both kids rotten doesn't hurt either!

All involved parties have approved the addition of my step-daughter to the trip so it looks like Operation:  Indentured Babysitter is a go!  Now my mom's active senior lifestyle will remain uncramped and I don't have to worry about coming home to any Lord of the Flies kind of incidents.  Win-win!