THE LONG-AWAITED MID-TERM REUNION
Hold on – did I call the mid-term break a reunion? It was, at first. As we drove home the stories flowed fast and furious. Some were hilarious, and others sounded like tales from a concentration camp!
We run everywhere! I fell twice and injured my knee!
We wake up at 3 a.m. to have a shower and do laundry!
The water is cold!
It rains every day!
Breakfast is at 4:30 a.m. By break time I am dying of hunger!
Oh my, I thought to myself. What have we done? Why are we putting our gem through this? High school was fun back in our days!
After an hour on the road, the lack of sleep got the better of her, and she dropped off. We eventually got home to an excited sibling who was happy that his best friend was home.
Sadly, my gem was not as excited. Sleep was all she wanted. She slept until the next morning!
When she woke up, I took a look at her and noted the effects of three weeks of boarding school.
A nasty flu.
Bones I had not seen for years.
A face dulled by fatigue.
And… a bagful of notes to write over the mid-term.
“What??? You are supposed to be resting!”
“Oh no – I don’t have time to rest! We have to make notes for every subject and I am behind.”
That’s how our mid-term began. Breakfast, notes, visits to the doctor, dentist and hairdresser, notes, meals, shopping, medication, sleep. I felt cheated. We barely had time to chat like we used to. All we would talk about was what was needed for school, how to adjust to the crazy school timings, and the amount of schoolwork. Our gem’s poor sibling wondered what had happened to his playmate!
Friday.
Saturday.
Sunday.
On Sunday I decided to consult a few buddies with kids in form one to hear how their kids were doing, and the story was the same. Early mornings, cold water, and movement by running (MBR)!
What kind of life was this we had signed our kids up for? Was it fair on them?
Monday came. Too fast, in my opinion.
Just one day of mid-term was left, and my gem was yet to study. She had barely rested. She would close her eyes for a minute then fly from her bed to the desk as soon as she remembered the notes. I felt sorry for her, so I did what any sympathetic mom would do. I helped with the notes. Yes, I did! She dictated and I wrote. I drew diagrams as she wrote. We kept going until 2 a.m. that night.
Tuesday morning came. I was a bundle of emotions. At this point, I thought she would be better off in a different kind of school. One that was not so far, was not so stressful and had good meals and hot water. But we went back. The trip was a mixture of silence and instructions – not the typical fun family drive. We got to the nearest town to stop for a ‘last meal’ but my poor gem could not relax. She barely ate as she worried about the unfinished notes. We ate quickly and headed to the school, getting there just before the official reporting time. We opened the doors, picked up her bags, and got her in just before the soldier declared “Masaa imeisha!”
No time to say goodbye.
No time for hugs.
No time for a last prayer.
My gem had hardly had time to breathe even though she was at home. We had hardly had any time with her to catch up and hear how school was going and how she was coping.
I was even more devastated than our first parting. I had no idea how to help her navigate the challenges she was going through. All I could do was pray for her.
Thankfully my gem would be home in another four weeks, thanks to the accelerated calendar. Maybe this time we would get to catch up just like old times.