The grace of other people

Bright Eyes had such a bad weekend that by Sunday I was a mess. I dragged him to church and had to beg out of my two responsibilities there because neither he nor I could cope.

Thank God for other people! They could see straight away that I was not coping (crying on people's shoulders will do that for you!) and I got rescued. The youngest and the oldest were both offered play dates for the afternoon so I could spend some decent time with Bright Eyes and get him back into a good place.

I was able to go up to a friend who had previously offered to come and play with Bright Eyes and say "I need you!" She came around that afternoon, and then again on Tuesday and spent an hour playing with him.

That afternoon I got a phone call from someone who noticed I was not ok and who offered a meal. She's a great cook, and I accepted right away! Later, there was another phone call offering babysitting.

Nicest of all was my husband who was due to go on a three-day conference on Monday. The attraction was a famous speaker from the US. He gave it up and stayed home with us just to make sure we'd all be ok and stay sane!

I'm pleased to say that Bright Eyes is much calmer now and is back to his more pleasant little self.