I get by with a little help from my friends

Our 3rd grade culture program is next Monday.  We would appreciate your thoughts and prayers at this difficult time....

Miriam's class is performing an African drum dance and the "drums" are yoga balls in baskets.  They needed to be inflated.

I agreed to help her after school.  We got the two air pumps the school owns.  One is old and the other is roughly from the Civil War era (I'm guessing).  I grabbed electric tape in my classroom because I have a little bit of everything in there.  I tried to patch up all the holes in the hose but it blew air on one side and kept falling out on the other side.  It took me 10 minutes to do one ball and we needed 23.

I drove home to get our little air compressor.  I figured it would be worth the time it took me to go fetch it.  As I was driving, it occurred to me that I had only ever used it on car tires and I didn't know what I needed to do to use it on balls.

I called Adam.

I called Mark.

I called Braeden.

None of them answered.  So I called my dad.

He explained what kind of attachment I needed.  I said, "OK, so where is it in my garage?"

Happily there was a little compartment on top of the air compressor with attachments.  I wasn't strong enough to open the little door but it was see through so I knew I had what I needed.  

I called my dad with the good news. 

He said, "Do you have a wrench to change the attachment?"

I said, "Do I need one?"

He said, "Yes."

I had already left home and I had already left Miriam alone with 23 yoga balls to inflate.  I figured somewhere in that school there was a wrench.

Walking into the school I saw Ethan, who is a custodian about Mark's age.  I asked his help.  He popped the little door open like someone who doesn't have arthritis in his hands.  I said, "Do you know how to attach this?  He looked at it for a few seconds and said yes and did it.  He didn't need a wrench, so apparently this air compressor is different than my dad's.  

I went to the gym and Miriam was merrily filling balls.  My air compressor was about twice as fast as hers so I think it was worth the trip.  

Emily came and talked to both of us about special ed. referrals while we worked.  She had her laptop balanced on her knees and was sitting on the steps while we all projected our voices over the sounds of two little engines that could.

One way or another, we get things done.