BRIGHT AND EARLY

And so it begins...the start of another school year. All three children were up bright and early this morning. Though they were in bed before 8pm, I am sure they would not have minded staying in bed for a few hours longer.

They ate their Brown Cow yogurt with granola, placed their lunch boxes and water bottles in their backpacks, and dressed before I was ready as I had an interview at 09:00 for which I needed to get ready. We then walked the two blocks to school and I took each of them to their classrooms starting with Sage and ending with Saffron.

When I returned home, I had a few minutes before leaving for my interview. I wanted to be early rather than late and so I sat in the lobby waiting for the two people with whom I had the interview. Half an hour passed and they still had not arrived. At that point I ended up talking with two other gentlemen who explained the extensive travel required of the position.

Whereas the agency which sent me specified travel 'up to 30 days', the two gentlemen informed me it would be 'up to 18 months' with the possibility of my being able to return home once a month for two days. At that point I was not pleased as I felt I had wasted my birthday morning on something I never would have considered in addition to having waited well past the scheduled time of the interview.

Eighteen months living away from home whilst having to pay for a house in Texas which I did not need in addition to not being with my children was not an option for me. Upon my return home I sent an email to the agency but they insisted they informed me from the start that the position was a traveling one. I responded by letting them know that 18 months was quite different than the 30 days they told me via email.

Had I not spent the morning at the interview, I would have had time to make a small birthday cake to share with my children after school. I chose instead to make lentil soup for dinner and would perhaps make the cake tomorrow even though the moment will have passed.

Though the day started with some disappointment, it ended with both phone calls and Skype sessions with my boyfriend. He wished me a happy birthday and I let him know that this time next year I believed we would be spending the day together sitting outside in the heat of the Texas summer.