I would be extremely

hard pressed to find a day more bizarre than this one. It has not been fun, and here is why:

3AM, give or take an hour: youngest comes downstairs to us. I did not wake from my already fitful sleep, happily. Mrs. changes soaked pull-up, nurses, bundles her back to bed. She had reason for waking - she fell asleep on the couch at 3:30 yesterday, woke up at 6 (very grumpy I might add) and asked to go back to bed, which she did.

6AM: Bright eyed and bushy tailed after close to 15 hours of sleep, youngest returns and performs some calisthenics on our bed.

6:20AM: Phone rings, nobody there. Looks like the automated phone system from the synogogue, which usually calls to announce funerals and shiva.

6:26AM: Phone again - a kid from town is missing, and they want volunteers to meet at the house at 7 to help look. Up, shower, hop in the car.

7AM: At the house - grampa and kid left yesterday to go hiking in Bear Mountain State Park, up north aways, and nobody's heard from or seen them since. We start grouping up into carpools, and they ask us to come back in an hour after the park police have had a chance to get things in order. Back home, pray, grab some water bottles, flashlight, sweatshirts.

8AM: Picked up by the carpool, get some instructions; please wait around 10 minutes; OK, head up to parking lot at state park

9AM: collecting other members or our carpool; on the way over to the highway, word comes they found the kid & grampa; everybody stand down. Home, get changed to go to work.

9:30AM: On the road to work, Mrs. calls - school called, oldest is crying & moaning, her stomach hurts. I stop at school (on the way to work anyway) and keep sicky company while momma gets back on the road (she took child today instead of me so I could go play posse.)

10:15AM: She gets child, I get to work & rush off to another oral history interview.

1PM: Get jabbed for annual PPD test, head upstairs. Message from Mrs. "Guess what? Oldest has chicken pox. She's home from school for the week."

So that's the day so far. I guess I shouldn't have told someone that the day couldn't get any more bizarre. Everytime I answer the phone from Mrs. now I ask whether or not someone has the grippe, or gout, or the plague.

It's going to be a LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGG week.