I am a host family to two families at the school my kids go to. Two families joining my son in the pre-K class tomorrow. I have met neither family. Oops. I failed to connect with either one in person at the barbeque in May. I did not call. I did email them both…?
Anyway, one of the mothers called me today. Shockingly I picked up the phone (me and the phone? not so much. my classic move is to receive a voicemail and respond by email. don’t take it personally. it’s me and my I-ness). She had a question. I did not have an answer, but I did convey with great enthusiasm and not a little pride that wow, I had the same question!
Oddly she did not seem super reassured by the fact that I shared her question. She forged on with another question. Another one that I did not have an answer to. And then, with my classic verbal diarrhea problem (perhaps I shy away from the phone because I know I am just plain bad at the phone?) I proceeded to regale her with a story about on my son’s first day at nursery school, when he was 2, I had simply not noticed that I was supposed to pick him up after an hour. So, wow (insert giggle) I got that call at 10:15 that said hey your 2 year old is sitting here waiting for you.
She, again, did not seem very delighted with this tale. Poor woman. She sure hit the Host Family Jackpot with me.
When I worked as a school administrator, we always set up host parents and new families, thinking this was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Something tells me that ALL the host families did exactly as you did, Lindsay. It's just part of the hazing ritual, I guess. When I went to Amherst, I was assigned a supermodel as a big sister. Guess how much she wanted to hang out with me?