Keep cool

That's what I tell myself, always. But, as we know it, it is easier said than done. There are a lot of moments when we thought the stress level couldn't get any higher. I tell you one instance. At 5:30 in the morning one day, Sean told me he needed my help in doing a project in HEKASI (Geography, History, and Civic Studies). And guess what, he needed it that same day. Pronto! He must be kidding!

So I was supposed to do magic? I don't know if any of you can keep cool when you are facing something like this. This is the thing that we parents dread the most in all of our kids' school works - to be at the edge, to cram as hell. You know, I've already bought as many school supplies I could think of- envelops, folders -the brown ones, with plastic cover, or sliding ones in various colors and sizes, manila paper, art paper, construction paper, illustration boards - name it I have it, so that when they need them, we don't have to run to God-knows-where just to get them. But a school project with barely an hour to prepare?
I'm not a genie or a magician.

To make things worse, for his project, Sean needed to briefly discuss a topic in geography, current affairs, geology, or any relevant topic; and he needed visual aids and index cards where he needs to write some sort of guide phrases - that is if he already knows what to say. So what's there to discuss? It's a moment that breaks my record for the most number of "OMGs" in my entire life. 

We gotta look in the magazines, in the newspapers, something, anything that is interesting. My mind was racing, my heart was beating so fast, my blood pressure perhaps was as high as my energy in going here and there searching every corner of our study room in search for a TOPIC! I can feel my eyebrows already joining together. And as for Sean? I did not want to look into his face. Oh my God, keep cool, there are things far worse than this, it's just a  school project, you can do it. These are what I told myself, which I kept on doing for I don't remember how long.

And I was so thankful we found a nice photo, full page in the magazine, of an iceberg. Then Internet...browse, browse. So what's with icebergs? Sean remembers their most recent topic in class is climate. And icebergs play a great role in the earth's climate. Gotta look for those index cards. No time to memorize or study deeper, he needed to write his lines down in the index cards. Oh and there was one more thing, it has to be delivered in Tagalog. So, translate, translate. Whew! What a day! I'll make sure this won't happen ever again. (Photos from here and here).