The Ultimate Work-Life Juggle
Adrian: Father’s Day wasn’t supposed to go like this.
Kim: Ok, let me backtrack. Two Sundays ago was Father’s Day! The newborn babies in Miami didn’t seem to care, though, which meant that I was scheduled to work in the newborn nursery that day. Adrian and I believe that the day of each parent should be celebrated, at the very least, with decreased or no parental duties. I was feeling very guilty that I had to work. To make matters worse, I had been on service the entire week, so Adrian had been on daddy duty almost exclusively. I made the decision to get a babysitter for 4 hours to give Adrian a break. Adrian loves spending time at the beach, so I envisioned him taking a break to splash in the waves while I am rounding on the babies.
Adrian: I sincerely appreciate Kim’s thoughtfulness in hiring the babysitter. I do, in fact, love to spend time at the beach. Having grown up in Jamaica, being at the beach is like being home. For some reason, however, I view my birthday as a day to have some alone time to reflect on my life and goals, whereas I view Father’s Day as a day to be with my family. It brings me great joy to execute my fatherly duties on “my day”, so I decided to take my son to the beach with me while the baby stayed home with the sitter. “First, though, we went to our favorite breakfast spot in our city! I was enjoying our day but missing my girls. Israel and I arrived at the beach in the late morning hours. I was able to snag a parking space (score!), and paid a small fortune for beach chairs and an umbrella. However, once our time with the babysitter was about to expire, I realized that I needed more time at the beach—despite the seaweed invasion.
Kim: So, he called me. I was finally done with rounding and was about to work on a few other items on my to-do list so that when I got home I could be fully present. Adrian said we should all return to the beach as a family. Hey, it’s his day so I obliged him, even if I had NO BATHING SUIT on me, no towel, no shoes…basically I was totally unprepared. Adrian suggested that I go pick up a bathing suit. I decided to stop by Ross (shout out to Ross!). I picked up a suit and a towel. Meanwhile…
Adrian: Meanwhile, I went back home, picked up Selah (right before naptime…was that a good idea?), and drove back to the beach. As I drove, I realized that I didn’t bring a change of clothes for myself, Israel or Selah…I just grabbed their swim suits and left. I usually think that I don’t fit the “typical Dad” stereotype, but this was a typical sitcom dad moment. What can I say? Kim and I just have different packing skills. I did remember snacks, though. As long as they’re well fed, I’m good. After all, in sunny SoFlo, wet clothes will dry at some point.
Kim: At this point, Adrian was legit calling me q2 minutes (that’s every 2 minutes for my non-medical peepsJ). He was driving around and having difficulty finding parking. I was trying to negotiate whether or not I had time to grab a snack.
Adrian: Kim knows that not being able to find parking is my kryptonite. I need to work on this, but I get frustrated very easily and get very snippy when parking is limited and I have to drive around a lot. By this time, Selah was sleeping and Israel was eating pizza that I purchased earlier. The parking attendant told me that I could potentially park at the nearby hotel with valet. Nice! WRONG. The valet attendant said I needed to be a hotel guest.
Kim: I am still receiving q2 min phone calls at this point.
Adrian: Then, SELAH THROWS UP.
Kim: And he calls me again.
Adrian: I pull over and clean her up with baby wipes and the only towel I had. Still, I couldn’t find a parking space. I call Kim (again) and told her I might just take the kids home. I was very disappointed at this point.
Kim: I leave Ross with my purchases, because I didn’t get the 7th call (!) until I
had already checked out. So, now I had $30 worth of beach gear for no reason, and I am worried about my daughter. I am driving home when I get the 8th call. We are back on for the beach! Huh?
Adrian: I changed my mind. Why not just throw caution to the wind and go to the beach? I have no change of clothes anyway, and Kim just bought a bathing suit. I didn’t want to disappoint her, since she left work early because of me. Selah was now very happy—singing, clapping, throwing tantrums, bossing us around—and I think the vomiting was due to congestion, as her breathing sounded clearer now. Off to the beach we go!
Kim: By this time, I am mostly going with the flow ONLY because it’s Father’s Day. On a regular Sunday I would have screamed “Make up your mind!” So, now I am driving to the beach. I receive about 5 more calls, because we are now switching beaches due to the parking situation. This meant forfeiting our beach chairs and umbrella that Adrian had rented for several more hours; but again, I am just going with the flow at this point!
Adrian: The beach was great! We had a blast. We were totally unprepared, but we were all together. I had no towels, because I used the one I brought to clean up vomit. Well, Kim had a towel that she just purchased, so there is that. We splashed around, ate slightly sandy pizza (because we had nothing to spread on the ground), and generally had a great time.
Kim: We got home around 8:00 PM after picking up some food for dinner. Everyone showered before we ate so we wouldn’t track sand all over the house. We got the kids ready and then got ready for bed as well. Before we went to sleep, Adrian’s voice changed a bit and he seemed a bit short of breath. Let’s just say this resulted in a 911 call, an ambulance ride, me calling my best friend to stay with my kids, and a few days in the hospital.
Adrian: I am so thankful for Kim and her love and diligence. She is, indeed, a super mom. She made many sacrifices that week as she juggled work and home while being my personal physician and patient advocate—and she made it look so easy. Although she had to cancel a presentation the morning I was admitted, she still managed to get some work done while being at my bedside; and actually, that motivated me to put in a couple hours of work as well, yes, right there in the hospital. Of course, I didn’t have to, but I really missed work and needed to keep my mind engaged: I love my job that much. Thankfully, all turned out well. I’m feeling great, and I now have another testimony of divine healing and deliverance.
We hope you enjoyed reading about our Father’s Day debacle! Do you have a similar story of a day that was supposed to go well and ended up totally different? Share it below!
-Adrian and Kim