Emergency Time

Amazingly, my third grade granddaughter made Valentines for her classmates on February 3rd. Usually she waits to the last minute on assignments and I add stress by repeatedly yelling “Emergency Time!” Normally Valentines are exchanged at a party on Valentine’s Day or the last school day before February 14th. But in virtual school, the students were told to deliver Valentines to school by February 8th. Zofia and her mother beat that date by three days. A miracle. Students provided 22 Valentines not addressed to anyone but signed by them. Presumably this solves the issue of students giving better Valentines to some or not giving one to everyone. On February 10th, I did a drive by at school to pick up a new math packet and the Valentine packet designated for Zofia. The bag is passed through a car window while a masked teacher waves to her masked student in the back seat, a familiarly sad ritual. At home, Zofia was very excited to tear into her Valentines but mourned not doing it together in a class party. All 22 students received a packet of 17 Valentines. We smugly congratulated ourselves on not being one of the five who either chose not to make Valentines (an acceptable option) or had just missed the deadline. Zofia left all her treasures strewn around our family room. On Friday, February 12th, I received a frantic Facetime call from my granddaughter who was in virtual school with her mother at their Condo a couple of miles away. We had all missed a significant instruction that Valentines were to be opened at a virtual class party that morning. I stuffed Valentines and wrappers from treats already consumed into the bag and raced to the Condo yelling “Emergency Time!”