How to spend a rainy day

Job sharing has its pluses and minuses. We do a lot of running in and out of the house all day long. We have to keep an hourly planner to remember who is picking up kids or grocery shopping or teaching class at any given time. We sometimes drop the ball, like last week when I arrived home (Friday, 3:30 PM) feeling relieved to have successfully retrieved the kids at school and checked off my last "to-do" for the week, only to get a phone call asking me why I wasn't at the committee meeting scheduled for just then.

Still, one big plus is the opportunity to occasionally grab the downtime in the midday. I spent the early morning with John and Helen, taking John to swim lessons. I next did a quick swap with Jeremy in the parking lot at work. I spent a few hours grading papers, teaching class, and the like. Then, at 1:30, I rushed out of the office to head home. It was now cold and raining heavily, making the short trip home a bit unpleasant. I hurried along, not only because of the weather but because I knew that Jeremy, having spent 2.5 hours with the two youngest kids at home and eating/cleaning up lunch, would be anxious to get back into the office to teach his next class.

Instead,  here is the scene I found today when I walked in the door.

Some guys have all the luck.