I got stood up again at work today.
My fifth grade student and his younger sister are habitually late, and today was no exception. It irks me and his sister's tutor, and the fact that we were getting paid for doing nothing was little consolation. But today I wasn't irritated. I could sense that something was different. After waiting 15 minutes, I gave their mom a call to see what was up.
She'd completely forgotten. Her mind was occupied with other things, and I knew why almost before I picked up the phone. The children's father is a doctor, as well as a medic in the Army National Guard.
His unit was included in the deployment announced yesterday.
I don't know if this means he's going to the Persian Gulf, but in these troubled times, chances are he is. The mother thought that, with everything that was going on, it would be best to discontinue tutoring. In fact, she'd been intent on bringing the kids today to say goodbye to myself and the other tutor. I told her not to worry about it, and my student said goodbye over the phone. He was cheerful, and even broke into a spontaneous nonsensical song. It was odd: he's still naive and doesn't understand the full implications of his father's deployment. It was surreal.
So the war hasn't even started, and it's already hit home.
Nate needs some pressure to put his comments script back up. I'd do it myself, but it's not like I hold a lot of influence in his world...