Ramped up yesterday early, before the sun was up, a good start to a busy Friday ahead, ready to get a bunch moving forward, and then…

Things went sideways was tue kids started waking up and getting ready for school…

The youngest, spooled up herself, and not in a good way; she went from neutral to not; so much so was she spun that she quickly froze up, stuck, emotionally frazzled.

I knew in an instant what I had to do.

It meant a dramatic change of course; my plan for a productive work day vaporized.

I called the school and told them my daughter was going to be absent for the day; I let my boss know I’d be off line do to a family situ.

And then we stopped in our tracks. The screaming and the tears subsided.

Our neighbor took the other two kids to school. My youngest went back to bed, the only place she seems to find solace.

Spooled down.

A little later in the morning she got up again; she got dressed of her own accord, had some toast. We talked about what had happened; she shared her thoughts, great insights on what she was feeling.

I’m not sure I’m able to divert the next episode that might come up for her, but I’ve got more ideas about how to try to help her.

And the sky didn’t fall. We made it through the day. It wasn’t the way we’d planned, but we made it thought.

Up or down, go forward, ever forward.