this has been A Day

~drmollytov

Bartender, your finest sleep meds please.

I got to work today (high school library) to learn that we lost a student over the weekend. Apparently they died in a car accident. We're having a crisis team in this week, along with therapy dogs in the library.

This is the fourth death this school community has faced in the past four years. We're fortunate that none of them has been a mass shooting (yet), but dang. This is already a high-poverty district; the last thing my students need is more trauma, yet the universe seems hell-bent on giving us just that.

To top it off, my niece called me this afternoon crying. Apparently her dad is venting that he's kicking her out the moment she turns 18.

I suspect he is merely venting, but still: I really wish parents wouldn't say this to their kids. Adolescence is tough enough without fearing you'll be homeless in a year and a half just because the calendar says "birthday."

I reassured her that I'm not letting her sleep in the street. I told her we'd work out the details if and/or when we need to do so. (I will expect her to behave like a tolerable roommate, but I'll also help her learn whatever skills she needs to do so that she may not have picked up while her dad was busy threatening to boot her to the curb.)

I think I'll turn in early tonight. I have a feeling I'll need it.