The Breaking Point
Papa, can you come and pick me up early today? Cici's plaintive voice tugged at my parenting senses as I wondered how I could get away from the office to take care of her needs. Is it the heat? I asked her. Not just the heat, she replied. Also my legs and feet hurt very bad, and it is making me feel uncomfortable. I have learned that the word "uncomfortable" is used by Ping and Cici to describe feelings of nausea, stomach cramps, and so forth. Sure Sweetie, I told her. Can you give me 45 minutes?
So I rescued her from band practice and told her that she could not return this evening to participate when the band struts its stuff for the parents. I don't want you to be sick just before classes begin, I told her. It isn't that important to be there this evening. She didn't argue the point with me. In fact, she agreed with me.
Then I had another tug on my parenting senses when my cell phone rang. The voice of a young lady with an Asian accent struggled to choose a way to tell me why she was calling. She wasn't struggling with speaking English. She was just searching for the best choice of words to introduce why she was calling. Finally she asked if she could speak to Angela. Cici spoke with her for a few minutes and then handed the phone back to me. She is a new student at my school and she wants to know if she can ride to school with us. She is from Vietnam.
I took the phone and the young lady explained her circumstances to me. She lives with a cousin who is unable to drive her to school. We will pay you for the gas, she told me. The school had given her telephone numbers of students and parents who live on her side of town. Where do you live? I asked her. I felt so sorry for her, but she lives in the opposite direction from the way we go to school each day. I wanted to help, but I didn't want to make things more difficult for Cici each day when we drive to school. I don't care about the cost of the gas; I just think our driving time would be at least 50% greater.
It took a lot of courage for that young lady to call us, I told Cici after I finished talking with her. I really wish we could help her. Yes, I agree, Cici responded. So I have been mulling over the situation, but I don't know what to do. This is where I wish Ping were here. She does a good job of handling these kinds of situations without doing what I do, which is taking the burden of someone I don't even know on my own shoulders. Am I just being selfish? I am asking myself. What if I had just arrived in a foreign country and were in her situation?
I know what will be keeping me awake tonight.
So I rescued her from band practice and told her that she could not return this evening to participate when the band struts its stuff for the parents. I don't want you to be sick just before classes begin, I told her. It isn't that important to be there this evening. She didn't argue the point with me. In fact, she agreed with me.
Then I had another tug on my parenting senses when my cell phone rang. The voice of a young lady with an Asian accent struggled to choose a way to tell me why she was calling. She wasn't struggling with speaking English. She was just searching for the best choice of words to introduce why she was calling. Finally she asked if she could speak to Angela. Cici spoke with her for a few minutes and then handed the phone back to me. She is a new student at my school and she wants to know if she can ride to school with us. She is from Vietnam.
I took the phone and the young lady explained her circumstances to me. She lives with a cousin who is unable to drive her to school. We will pay you for the gas, she told me. The school had given her telephone numbers of students and parents who live on her side of town. Where do you live? I asked her. I felt so sorry for her, but she lives in the opposite direction from the way we go to school each day. I wanted to help, but I didn't want to make things more difficult for Cici each day when we drive to school. I don't care about the cost of the gas; I just think our driving time would be at least 50% greater.
It took a lot of courage for that young lady to call us, I told Cici after I finished talking with her. I really wish we could help her. Yes, I agree, Cici responded. So I have been mulling over the situation, but I don't know what to do. This is where I wish Ping were here. She does a good job of handling these kinds of situations without doing what I do, which is taking the burden of someone I don't even know on my own shoulders. Am I just being selfish? I am asking myself. What if I had just arrived in a foreign country and were in her situation?
I know what will be keeping me awake tonight.
Angela is 16. While we all know she is responsible, the insurance might be killer, but there is that Bug sitting in the garage...
Or if the young lady can get to you place, via some other method, and you can take her from there?
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The second idea might work Smitty, thanks.
As for the first idea, one could reasonably expect me to be less protective since I set out on my own in the world when I was age 16 and never looked back, but I am pretty much the opposite. I don't want Cici to be driving on the streets of Houston for a long time to come unless Ping or I are with her. Poor child, she may never learn to drive.
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If the drivers in Houston are anything like the drivers in Dallas, I can completely understand that!
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