We have all heard the African proverb, "It takes a Villiage to raise a child." I have never understood that old saying until lately. I have always had some help with Aubrey, but it has always come from family or paid help. Maybe it's because I didn't have the right Villiage or the Villiage didn't know what to think of a child like Aubrey, but I've never really reached out to the community for help with her. This past week, I started to realize that I'm in such an amazing community and maybe I can depend on them when I literally cannot do it all, at the same time. My office was involved in a one day trial and I would need to work a full day. Seems extremely normal for any woman in modern day society to work a full day and not have to go through numerous phone calls, Facebook messages, and text, but that's what it took for me to get in a full day. Seth was working, obviously he would be my first resort. Jeanie, my mother in law, was out of town. I've become extremely dependent on Jeanie for babysitting but she was out of town on this particular day. Next option would be Ray, Seth's dad. That might be alright for an hour or so but not really an option knowing Aubrey would need to eat and potty right after school. Hmmmm. What the heck was I going to do? I figured I could just leave the trial early. Awesome, I'll just get up in the middle of court and walk out to go get my child from school. Not ideal but I didn't really know what else I could do. I finally put in a Facebook message to one of the aides at the school to see if maybe Aubrey could go home with her for a while. That aide would be driving one of the bus routes that afternoon so that wouldn't work. What she could do though was call one of the other aides and see if she if she could help me out. Turns out she could. Now, text the gymnastics coach and see if Aubrey can stay a little bit late to help with the timing of it all. Score! I have someone to help with Aubrey for just a few hours. Now, I just had to coordinate with with Aubrey's primary aide at school and let her know I would dropping Aubrey earlier than normal and of the differences that would be occurring in the afternoon with someone else picking her up (i.e. Aubrey would need to dressed in gymnastics gear before she left school). Last step was just stopping by the school office to let them know what was going on. Ok so just to recap, I had to coordinate with Jeanie, 3 aides, a gymnastics coach and the school so that I could work for an extra 1.5 hrs. That's a a lot of coordination but luckily I have a Villiage to coordinate with.
The second time the Village came into play this week was at the gymnastics exhibition yesterday. Aubrey is fortunate enough to be able to participate in these type events because the Gymnastics Board has been willing to hire a coach for her to do one-on-one lessons, at no extra cost. Aubrey practices twice a week and has an extremely charismatic coach who Aubrey just taken to very easily. So yesterday was the first time Aubrey has gotten to showcase her skills since last year. She showed absolutely no fear and went out onto that floor like a seasoned pro. Darn near the entire town was there and cheered her along. SHE LOVED IT! I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude for the support she was shown. Not every person in that gym knows all of her struggles or her life story but they could see how much she enjoyed her own success and how uninhabited she was in that moment. Once again, the Villiage was there to show its support.
I could probably take this journey with Aubrey all by myself, if I had to, but I'm so honored to have a Villiage that is behind me all the way.
