Muffins with Mom – When mom needs a helping hand

My helping hand on her big day

Have you ever had so many things to do that you wished you could clone yourself? You may have discovered that there are many benefits that come with the job of parenting, but a paid vacation is not one of them. Now that my bundle of joy was almost a high school graduate, I decided to take a vacation, without him.

As I was approaching the gate where my flight was to depart, my cell phone chimed. I looked at the caller-ID, it was the employment agency. My son applied for a summer job and a representative from the agency was calling me with more details. He said my son needed to have an adult accompany him to the mandatory orientation.

Pulling my carry-on luggage behind me, I found a seat and conversed with the man on the phone. “Can my older son attend the orientation with his brother?”

“He has to be at least 21 years old.”

“Oh,” was all I said. What I really wanted to say was, “He’s 20 years 6 months, 8 days…he’s almost 21, doesn’t that count?”

There was less than an hour left before time to board the plane. I needed to find a mom substitute, someone who could stand in my place at the orientation, but who? My mom and brother were with me. My options were limited…then the thought occurred to me. My babysitter. The young woman began babysitting for my boys when she was only eighteen years old.

My former babysitter was now a married woman, I needed to pull her out of retirement. I scrolled through my phone until I reached her number and with the tap of my screen, the phone began to ring. In a rushed tone, I spilled all the information from my head to her listening ear. “I can be there,” she said.

Clutch. My babysitter came through in a clutch. That’s the word my teenager uses when someone comes through for you in a challenging situation. My retired babysitter was my helping hand in that moment I needed a stand-in. Her kindness is appreciated and goes a long way.

Have you ever needed a helping hand in your parenting journey?