Today, I did my volunteering job at school where I re-shelve library books. This is a great, great volunteer job:
- It is pretty quick. I usually get in and out in 30-45 minutes.
- It is mindless. As long as you can follow alphabet and number sequences, you are good to go.
- There is a measurable effect: when you are done, there are no more books to be put away.
- The librarians are so very appreciative of the help.
- Sometimes, the kids come in and they get really excited to see you.
While I was there this morning, one of the librarians mentioned that there would be a tornado drill at 9am. I told her that if I needed to leave books unshelved, I’d be out of there before 9. Sorry, but I have no interest in being involved in a tornado drill.
Especially when I heard the stories from my kids from last week.
Last Wednesday was apparently a bad weather day. I am not programmed to recognize tornado weather, so I missed quite a bit of it. In fact, when it started, I was out for a run and wondered what all the sirens were about for a few minutes before realizing that maybe I should look for some cover.
By the time I worked out my plan, the sirens stopped. So I figured it was ok.
On an off, there were sirens throughout the day, but the weather outside didn’t look too bad, so I didn’t worry.
Until 5 minutes before school dismissal, when I got a text from the county saying that after school activities had been cancelled.
This would normally not be a big deal. The teachers and staff at the school are awesome and get the kids where they need to go. Except that day, I had asked them to have Katie go to the Media Center after school. I had a reason (Maggie had an after school activity, and I wanted Katie there because I was going in for it), but I didn’t specify it when I called in to make the after school change for her.
So they put her in the Media Center after school.
While Maggie came home on the bus.
There was chaos at the school. I found out later that the kids had spent about half the day “ducking and covering” under their desks. Maggie said they got a 2 minute stretching break every 30 minutes, and then they had to duck and cover again.
Yes, they complained of headaches and backaches and horrible days at school when they came home.
And yes, Maggie picked up a nasty cold from being inches away from sneezes and coughs for most of the day. (but I count myself very lucky– I’ve heard that other kids had “stomach distress” from the situation).
The kids knew about today’s drill. They were almost annoyed because they now consider themselves pros.
I managed to shelve all the books and get home before I even heard the sirens.
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Yeaaaah- I’d not be interested in that shiz at all, either. I’ve never been the recipient of a tornado drill, but fire drills? You’re looking at the pro. And I’ve gotten yelled at for putting my fingers in my ears, too. Because apparently, kids aren’t supposed to do that — it messes with them holding the railings and going down stairs in an orderly fashion. Who knew? Nevermind my audiologist’s reminder to not expose what’s left of my hearing to loud noises. I digress. I’ve also gotten to be there for a code blue and lockdown drills. Good times. But I’ll take all those over a duck and cover (we don’t do desks. we do hallway, lined up, hands and arms covering heads)
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