While it was happening, I couldn't laugh or even manage a small smile, but I can see the humor in it now.
There is a new Sunday School class being offered called "Strengthening Marriage and Families" that is supposed to last for 15 weeks. Our Bishop feels like everyone in the ward should take it, so during tithing settlement, he asked each person (or family) if they would be willing to attend when asked. That includes people in leadership positions like a presidency. Well, how else are you going to respond when the Bishop asks you to do something? Of course you say that you'll do it. The different presidents had already been warned that this was going to happen, but we knew that the other members of the presidency (counselors, secretary, etc.) would just have to step up a little more to cover for whoever was pulled out for those 15 weeks.
The primary is still not fully staffed. I don't have a secretary and there are still teaching positions that need to be filled (that includes the nursery). The Friday before the second Sunday in January, I found out (by chance) that my 1st counselor was being pulled from the primary to attend this new class. Needless to say, that news put me into a tail spin. I was fully prepared to give up someone to attend that class, but I figured I wouldn't have to do it until, at least, I had a secretary and the presidency was fully up and running. Fifteen weeks meant that my 1st counselor would not be helping in the primary until the time that I was due. I would be leaving (if only for a short while), while she was just getting back. Primary uses its counselors and secretary differently on a Sunday than any other organization. We are constantly doing something, either sharing a lesson, checking on teachers, checking on nursery and sometimes even staying in nursery to help out. Knowing that it would be just me and my 2nd counselor to run the primary for the next 15 weeks, was more than I could handle. (We had submitted names for a secretary, but had no idea when one would be called. I had to plan as if it would only be my 2nd counselor and I for awhile.)
After I had confirmed from the Bishopric counselor over the primary that my 1st counselor would be "unavailable", I broke down and started crying. Luckily, I was at home because I couldn't stop crying. I'm not a quitter; I don't give up easily even when I probably should. I probably learned that from my older brothers. But to be honest, I felt like I had just gotten the wind knocked out of me, the rug pulled out from under me, and that I had been beaten and stomped on. For the first time in my life I had no will, no desire to get back up again. All day Friday and Saturday the tears just kept coming--they wouldn't stop. I'm not a weepy person. Even when I'm pregnant, hormones don't get the better of me. I'm just a pretty even keel type of person. So, it is a rare thing for my kids to see me break down and cry--they don't know quite what to do. On Saturday, while the kids were cleaning the house, all I could manage was cleaning my bathroom.
Poor Rainer, he didn't know what to make of me. He would come up to me and very timidly, give me a hug and a kiss, and then run off to play. He did that a couple times during the day. At one point he asked me if I was sad. I told him that yes, I was sad. He then paused, looked very thoughtful and asked, "Did someone die?" I told him no. No one had died. Had I not been so beaten down, I would have found the humor in that question. But I couldn't even manage a smile at his perceptive question.
UPDATE:
A secretary has been called. She'll be sustained on Sunday (1-30-11). She will be more of a 3rd counselor for now than a secretary. I have since found out that my 1st counselor will only be gone for 6-8 weeks in the class, which is far more doable. We are now only missing nursery leaders and one brother to help co-teach with another brother. Things are progressing.
There is a new Sunday School class being offered called "Strengthening Marriage and Families" that is supposed to last for 15 weeks. Our Bishop feels like everyone in the ward should take it, so during tithing settlement, he asked each person (or family) if they would be willing to attend when asked. That includes people in leadership positions like a presidency. Well, how else are you going to respond when the Bishop asks you to do something? Of course you say that you'll do it. The different presidents had already been warned that this was going to happen, but we knew that the other members of the presidency (counselors, secretary, etc.) would just have to step up a little more to cover for whoever was pulled out for those 15 weeks.
The primary is still not fully staffed. I don't have a secretary and there are still teaching positions that need to be filled (that includes the nursery). The Friday before the second Sunday in January, I found out (by chance) that my 1st counselor was being pulled from the primary to attend this new class. Needless to say, that news put me into a tail spin. I was fully prepared to give up someone to attend that class, but I figured I wouldn't have to do it until, at least, I had a secretary and the presidency was fully up and running. Fifteen weeks meant that my 1st counselor would not be helping in the primary until the time that I was due. I would be leaving (if only for a short while), while she was just getting back. Primary uses its counselors and secretary differently on a Sunday than any other organization. We are constantly doing something, either sharing a lesson, checking on teachers, checking on nursery and sometimes even staying in nursery to help out. Knowing that it would be just me and my 2nd counselor to run the primary for the next 15 weeks, was more than I could handle. (We had submitted names for a secretary, but had no idea when one would be called. I had to plan as if it would only be my 2nd counselor and I for awhile.)
After I had confirmed from the Bishopric counselor over the primary that my 1st counselor would be "unavailable", I broke down and started crying. Luckily, I was at home because I couldn't stop crying. I'm not a quitter; I don't give up easily even when I probably should. I probably learned that from my older brothers. But to be honest, I felt like I had just gotten the wind knocked out of me, the rug pulled out from under me, and that I had been beaten and stomped on. For the first time in my life I had no will, no desire to get back up again. All day Friday and Saturday the tears just kept coming--they wouldn't stop. I'm not a weepy person. Even when I'm pregnant, hormones don't get the better of me. I'm just a pretty even keel type of person. So, it is a rare thing for my kids to see me break down and cry--they don't know quite what to do. On Saturday, while the kids were cleaning the house, all I could manage was cleaning my bathroom.
Poor Rainer, he didn't know what to make of me. He would come up to me and very timidly, give me a hug and a kiss, and then run off to play. He did that a couple times during the day. At one point he asked me if I was sad. I told him that yes, I was sad. He then paused, looked very thoughtful and asked, "Did someone die?" I told him no. No one had died. Had I not been so beaten down, I would have found the humor in that question. But I couldn't even manage a smile at his perceptive question.
UPDATE:
A secretary has been called. She'll be sustained on Sunday (1-30-11). She will be more of a 3rd counselor for now than a secretary. I have since found out that my 1st counselor will only be gone for 6-8 weeks in the class, which is far more doable. We are now only missing nursery leaders and one brother to help co-teach with another brother. Things are progressing.
I totally understand how you felt. I had something similar happen (the details were different.) I broke down in Sacrament Meeting and was crying and sobbing so hard that I had to leave the meeting. It is terrible when you feel like you are drowning and you can't do anything to save yourself. I'm glad things are working out.
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