Bless the boy

I got a call from the principal's office this morning, but it wasn't about my kid.  It was about the boy.  Rather, it was about the lack of the boy being where he was supposed to be.  In other words, he didn't show up at school for a while.  And I don't know what I was going to accomplish, but I was 30-seconds away from putting the kids in the Prius and striking out on our own to find our mangled car in a ditch on the way to school. 

Today's weather can best be described as never-before-have-I-witnessed-this.  I got up at 5 a.m. to cram in a week's worth of Bible study homework for today's class that was summarily cancelled.  At that point, it was raining...downpouring, really.  That changed over to sleetishness around 6 with a few bursts of thunder, followed closely behind by big-old-wet-snowflakes-ing at 6:15, which, surprisingly, were sticking immediately.  Bad news bears for ye olde morning commute.  And the electricity kept flickering flickering flickering for over an hour.  It was just one of your typical June-thunderstorm-snow-showers-in-March kind of a morning.

And the boy left in his all-wheel drive vehicle on time.  But didn't make it to work...on time.  And herein lies my biggest fear.  What if something happens to the boy?  My primary fear isn't about my kids; I feel control over their situation.  Nothing is happening to them unless it's happening to me, and I am infallible, right?  I'm in charge over everything, right?  Yes, nothing is happening to them.  It's not really even on my radar.  But time and again I get these little breath-catching reminders that the boy is beyond my control.  He's not protected by my superwoman aura.  I can't correct his car from sliding off of the road or watch for anyone running a red light.  And it has to be this way.  But my kids are also impermanent insofar as they're under my force field for only a handful of years, but the boy I have chosen for good.  He's not getting booted when he gets too big for tween books and high school basketball games.  He's not getting cut off when he's no longer covered on my insurance.  I mean, he's my IT. 

And wouldn't you know, despite his propensity to irritate me in the morning and his love affair with popcorn, I still need him to be here with us.  With me.  What I don't need is anymore calls from the principal's office asking if I have heard from him.  Thankfully, he was late from being overly careful with the lousy driving conditions.  Bless him.