After our emotional moment, I wiped away the boys’ tears with the sleeve of my dress, then told them to go back to their seats so we could all eat something. I guess their trauma departed with the idea of getting food in their bellies. They both scrambled off my lap and practically ran to their chairs.
While the boys were chewing on their roast beef sandwiches, and Mrs. Penn and I were enjoying our tomato, cottage cheese, and lettuce salads, Mrs. Penn explained that she was not interested in taking my job away from me and, in fact, was quite pleased with how I was interacting with and taking care of the boys.
She’d already said that before, but it was reassuring to hear again. I mentioned that I felt guilty that I hadn’t been doing my share of labor around the house. “I’m going to work with the boys on academics after we finish our meal,” I told her. “And I guess it’s time to do some laundry.”
“You’re doing fine. No one expects you to jump right in and do everything at once. An acclimation period is needed for every new job,” she assured me.
I nibbled on a piece of bread. It was really tasty since it was the whole wheat kind with lovely seed kernels and nuts.
Mrs. Penn was watching me. I hadn’t made a sound of enjoyment, but I guess she could tell from my face that I was savoring the bread.
“The bakery down the street is going to deliver a loaf of that bread daily,” Mrs. Penn told me “And the local market will be dropping off a box with fresh milk, cheese and produce every other day. It may be that we’ll be able to get the butcher’s shop to deliver some meat for the children. I wanted to talk with you about that first.”