To my village, thank you.

I recently came across this problem on the MCAT, let's see if you can answer it correctly. I have included the answers so you can check your work.

Part 1: A woman (Mom 1) drops her two children off at two different schools, one preschool, one elementary, each in a different town. Both children need to be picked up at 11:30. What does she do?
Solution: Mom 1 arranges with friend (Mom 2) with children in the same schools to split pick-up and meet at her house to exchange children.

Part 2: Mom 1 also has an infant son. He accompanies her on all drop offs and pick ups kindly napping during school hours. On this particular day Infant Son develops a fever and Mom 1 endures an hour of inconsolable crying before deciding she must take Infant Son to the doctor immediately which will result in her missing pick up mentioned above. What does she do?
Solution: Woman calls a third woman (Mom 3) with a child at the elementary school who will pick up the older children when she fetches her own child. Mom 2 will pick up the younger children at preschool, bring them to Mom 3's house where she will drop off Mom 1's younger child and pick up her own older child. Mom 3 will feed and entertain Mom 1's children until she can get to Mom 3's house after Infant Son's doctor appointment to pick them up.

Did you get it right? Well, it took me about half an hour to come up with that solution all while listening to my son scream. Oh, in case you haven't figured it out, the MCAT is not the Medical College Admissions Test, it's my life, the Mom's Crazy All the Time, which incidentally is also a test - of my patience and sanity. This is what went down today when one piece of the carefully choreographed ballet I have put together in order to get my children from point A to point B each morning went awry.

As I stood in the kitchen clutching the phone trying to decide how I was going to be in three places at the same time I thought to myself, "How the hell am I supposed to do this all by myself?" The answer is, I'm not supposed to. The situation modern mothers are put in today is unnatural. We're not supposed to be alone. We're supposed to be living a tent with other women, all of whom have children, weaving each other's clothes, tending each other's goats, and cooking common meals. If one day my child is sick you'll entertain and feed my other kids so I can tend to him in peace and somewhere down the road I'll return the favor. We don't even need to go that far back to remember a time women were not so alone, let's look back to the 40's and 50's. Most women were home. If you needed help you could run next door and say, "Marge, could you keep an ear out for the baby in case he wakes up? I have to run to the school because Timmy forgot his lunch." Someone was actually home and in a similar situation to yours. After eight-thirty my street is a ghost town of empty driveways and darkened windows.

So it wasn't the women who I live closest to who I called upon to help, it was the network of mothers I have been fortunate enough to meet through my daughters' schools and my mother in-law. These women save my ass again and again and for that I am eternally grateful. Mom 3 in particular, I haven't even known a year. When we met I had just given birth to my son and she came right out and said if I ever needed a hand to give her a call. Mom 2 is also an amazing friend and is always willing to be flexible when I screw up carpool again. And my mother in-law. She came running to my house as soon as she could just in case I needed her. As I have said time and again, she is my lifeboat and my anchor. Without her I would be sinking or adrift in an ocean of missed doctor's appointments and Girl Scout meetings.

These women make up my village and I want them to know how thankful I am for their continued help and support and should they ever need me I am just a phone call away.* While we may not be sharing a tent, we have to stick together, ladies. My village would be a lonely place without you.

*(Speaking of phone calls I have to electronically include my sista-soul, Sasha, who is always on the other end of the line during these crises offering advice. Sorry for the earful of baby crying today, Dolls)