The Critical Mom's Midterms

This morning, after staying up way too late putting together a midterm that I was supposed to give today, I left it sitting on my desk.  In the nanosecond I spent remembering to tell my daughter where her swimsuit was, I forgot the midterms, which are still cooling their heels on my desk, after my husband spent all that time printing them out for me on our only functional printer, and after I spent an unplanned amount of time teaching the class instead of giving the exam.  That called for inspiration, the child of desperation, but it all went just fine.
When I walked up to the tram stop this morning with my eldest son, before I even realized the exams were not in my bag, we saw the "two minutes" sign announcing the tram, and joked about whether we'd wait two minutes by the clock or "too minutes," as in too many minutes.  Funny how ten minutes go by while the announcement board insists that we're waiting "two" minutes, or that the tram is coming sofort, or immediately.
Immediately can last a long time in Deutschland these days.
Next Tuesday, I will compensate my students for their anticipatory anxiety (which I may be imagining . . . they are either politely lying or genuinely relieved) with some chocolates. And that perfectly-printed midterm.  
One of my plans, never realized, is to get some sleep.  At the moment I don't see that happening.  For one thing, there's the 72-euro guinea pig sitting downstairs waiting for me to medicate her infected paw.  Yes, 72 euros--that's what the weekend emergency trip to the vet, plus oral antibiotic, plus antibiotic ointment and iodine, cost.  Plus she needs a checkup.  But she's been awfully sweet about the whole thing.  Her husband bit me on the finger when I lifted her out of the cage, though.  I wouldn't call it chivalry, since he tends to snatch food out of her mouth--or her paws.  But all the same, he misses her.  So I better go downstairs right now and attend to that paw.  

P.S.  The 72-euro piggie is now the  128-euro piggie, having had an operation to remove a stone in her urinary tract.  But she is bearing up, bearing up.