Today I won the Lottery.

We decided! We have a school! I did not post about every school we went to visit but we ended up looking at just about 10, both public and private. When you have a nut allergic kindergartner the conversations about how good the school is revolve primarily around how safe they are and only secondarily around the curriculum. I had just about decided that homeschooling kindergarten was the best choice until our first choice called. We had been on a waiting list for this school since January and had all but written them off. Now, they have a place for us! The highlights are that they operate as either half day or full day, so to start we do not have to worry about Alec eating lunch there and can eventually opt for a full day as we all get more comfortable.

This week I went to fill out all the registration papers and per usual, got into a conversation with the administrator about Alec’s nut allergy. We went through all the bits…

Where are the epi’s stored and who has the key to the cabinet?
What happens when she is not in the building?
How is everyone trained and who trains the substitute teacher?
What happens at snack time and who is responsible for bringing the snacks?
Where is the freezer so we can keep safe cupcakes for party time?
Where are the bathrooms so if he passes out in one he can be found quickly?
What should I include in my letter to the kindergarten class about bringing safe snacks?

You know, all the questions that have now become commonplace. The conversation was going very well and I was very pleased with how prepared they already were. Then, the woman I was speaking with mentioned that her grandson was just diagnosed (at 9) with a nut allergy and how her daughter-in-law was just about to go off the deep end. This is unfortunately a feeling I, and most parents of nut allergic children, am familiar with. We spent the next whole hour talking about the feelings, the stress, and how to trust anyone other than yourself with your child after you are told they have the potential to die within 30 seconds of ingesting a food that is everywhere. It was a fantastic conversation. It was so good to be able to reassure this grandmother that A. her daughter-in-law would eventually get better at managing this, and B. that they would be able to go out to dinner again. But, even more importantly, in that one relatively short conversation I got totally present to just how far I, we, our family, has come in the last three years.

Today I feel like I have won the lottery.