TGFZ

At a Lehigh basketball game this past winter.

Thank God For Zahir [TGFZ]. Zahir has been babysitting for us regularly through this spring semester (back story here). And I’ve got to say: he has been a God-send. This was a tough semester for us (just way too much going on and me, especially, being stretched way too thin). I cannot exaggerate how invaluable it was to me for Zahir to step in just exactly when I really needed a great babysitter to step in. He quickly established himself as our Go To Guy for babysitting. And the bambinos could not be happier. The three of them are ecstatic at the mention of Zahir coming to babysit. He is fun; he can toss the them around like they weigh nothing; and he never seems to tire of sports-sports-sports (and not just basketball, either, he can –and does—play it all with the boys). Oh, and he’s reliable, dependable, trust-worthy, and an awesome role-model for my three kids. What more could we ask for?

This past week was Last Week of Classes at Lehigh. The end of one of the toughest semesters ever in the J-M Family History. It just felt like the end of a grueling marathon there at the end. Weeks in advance, knowing the end was somewhere in sight, I had lined up Zahir to babysit on Friday night so that Braydon and I could go out for an End-of-My-Year-Date-Night. I’ve always been thankful for Zahir, but I’ve never been more thankful than I was Friday. He was due to arrive at 6:00, and all day I was counting the minutes.

5:15 I arrive home from an event at work, the bambinos are watching Dora, Braydon immediately leaves to pick up pizzas for Zahir and the kids.

5:20 K & O can’t stand it any longer— even though Zahir’s arrival is still 40 minutes away, they want to wait outside for him to arrive. We turn off Dora and head out.

5:30 Out of nowhere Meera (who has been perfectly fine all day) starts fussing, whining, and clinging. The only time she’s like this is when she’s sick. My heart starts to race and my blood pressure starts to rise. She insists on me holding her.

5:40 Braydon gets home with the pizza to find K & O waiting anxiously at the end of the driveway for Zahir to arrive and Meera lethargic and fussing and slumped in my arms. He runs to get the thermometer.

5:45 Meera’s temp is 102.7 – and she, who usually is just as excited about Zahir coming as her brothers are, is crying saying “I don’t want Zahir! I want Mama!” – my mind is racing – ‘I cannot lose this date night! I’ve been living for this night for weeks! I will die if I have to cancel this night!’ – not to mention: the boys will never forgive me if I cancel Zahir. I quickly devise a plan. Not a plan that will win me any parenting awards, no, no, no. But a plan that will – if all goes well – work.

5:47 I tell Braydon to get the Children’s Motrin ASAP. We load Meera up with it and I cheerfully announce to her, “It is time for bed!” She’s dazed and confused, but too sick and out-of-it to really question anything. I direct the boys to kiss her goodnight (they’re confused too, but are so focused on Zahir’s impending arrival that they barely even notice anything else going on). I swiftly run her upstairs, brush her teeth, change her into her pjs, and rock her to sleep. She’s asleep and settled into her bed within 5 minutes.

6:00 Zahir arrives. But, not only does he arrive, he brings Marquis with him!! This is something I had known Zahir was planning, but he had asked me to keep it a surprise for the boys, and so I had. K & O were beside themselves with thrill. The last time we saw Marquis was at the boys’ birthday party last May. Soon after that he graduated from Lehigh and headed back to his hometown of Portland, Oregon. Not long after he jetted off to play professional basketball in Denmark (click and click). You can imagine the boys’ surprise and EXCITEMENT when Zahir drove into our driveway with Marquis Hall!

6:10 The boys finally give me a minute to hug Marquis (he was, after all, long before he ever even knew K & O, my student at Lehigh!). And then I explain things to Zahir. It went soemething like this: “Z, listen, not even an hour ago Meera suddenly came down with something. She’s got a fever, and she’s a wreck, but we loaded her up with Motrin, and she’s sleeping. If she wakes up, just do the best you can to comfort her, and call us and we’ll come straight home. But, I GOTTA GO. I just gotta go! I need this night! So, here’s the baby monitor. Are you cool with this?” Without hesitating for even a second he said, “Yes. Go!”

TGFZ.

6:15 We left. As we walked out the door, my boys (all four of them) were eating pizza and talking sports.

9:30 We arrive home after a short, but perfect, date night. We had told K & O that since it was so special that Marquis had come to babysit all the way from Denmark (!), they could stay up until we got home (this was a first). When Braydon and I got home from our new favorite restaurant (for anyone who lives around here, you’ve got to check this place out: 1821 Steaks & Cocktails), K, O, Zahir, and Marquis were, all four, just about as happy as could be. All reports were that after pizza they had played football, baseball, and basketball until it was too dark to stay outside any longer… at which point they had sat down at the kitchen table for “table football” (whatever that is?). All I know is that it was probably one of the best nights of Kyle and Owen’s lives.

TGFZ.

We never got a phone call from Zahir while we were out that night. Meera slept through it and never even knew we had left. She woke up later, at midnight, with her fever raging. We ended up having to cancel all of our Saturday plans, and our doctor called in yet another round of antibiotics for our poor girl. But her ear tube surgery is scheduled for later this month, and Braydon and I got our date night, and the boys got not only a night with Zahir and Marquis, but –icing on the cake— a night with Zahir and Marquis alone without their sister drawing any of the attention away, and… well… TGFZ.