The rest of the story...

Still with me??

I will skip ahead to Friday morning, March 20th.

We all needed to be at the school by no later than 1pm, where Skype equipment had been set up for our virtual show with Oprah.

Oprah.

I was fine through all the Tuesday filming. It was just Rita, who by that day I considered a friend and not SuperScaryOprahShowProducer.

I guess I was comfortable with her.

And I may have been totally focused on getting through the camera-ing on Tuesday, and then consumed with trying to catch up with the train wreck I call my life...oh, and the small matter of designing the school budget.

I guess you could say I distracted myself.

And it all still seemed distant and unreal. 

Right up until Friday morning.

I spent most of the morning alternating between getting my kids cleaned, dressed, and fed, 

 and vomiting.

I was certain that when Oprah appeared on the screen, I was going to pee my pants and pass out. In that order.

By this time there were many people calling me to coordinate things on our end, and I got busy, and managed to distract myself again. 

I was also doing my best to distract the TV people. They insisted upon having some of the people who had been filmed Tuesday at the taping Friday.

Problem was, we had no school scheduled that day, and we'd lost some of our population to previously scheduled appointments with doctors and accountants. And trips to grandparents. That sort of thing.

There was a bit of last minute scurrying to get back whoever we could. Tammy was paramount, they said. We need her! We need Lance!

The Big Guy and Chris ran over to the mainland in the morning to collect them. It took some major sweet talking on my part to  get Tammy to come back. I won't repeat what I said. Ever.

And it took Lance 2 hours to get to the boat dock. So at 1:00, our deadline, they were on their way...but were somewhere in the middle of the bay.

Because, even an hour away from being filmed (!) on TV (!) with Oprah (!), 

there must be chaos and drama around me.

sigh.

Somehow, around 1pm (or, ahem,  a bit later), we were all arranged in seats in front of the webcam.

I had managed a seat close to the front, because it was demanded of me, but hidden behind some other people. At the last minute, somebody realized my tactic, and made me move. 

Front row.

And that did it. 

I had been moving, and thinking and busy up to that point. Now I was just sitting.

Enter panic.

When I had my first child, we had some issues. It's a long story, and it all turned out very well, but I had a C-section. (I loved it. I highly recommend it, in fact.)

And I knew I was going to have a C-section for about 24 hours before it actually happened.

I was able to do the 'distract' thing for most of it. To be honest, right up until I was wheeled into the operating room. I was having a baby, after all, not a 'surgery'.

Then somebody went and threw the surgeon's schedule off and I had to wait in the hallway for a very long time.

And I went blind.

And now I know. That's where the term "blind panic" comes from.

I actually lost my vision for the entire time I was in that hallway. It came back when I was moved into the actual operating room, and I was joking with the nurses again.

Phew.

Apparently, I met the Anesthesiologist while blind in the hallway. He said later, remember me?

I knew I'd never set eyes on him before, but I said, Sure, how are ya? But, I'll tell you my secret. I knew him from his aftershave. He smelled great. 

So when the panic comes, I always have this nagging worry...what important bodily function might I lose?

Live. With Oprah.

When I said I was afraid I'd pee and pass out, I knew from what I was talking.

Well, I did neither of those thing, I'm told.

I have to go by what I was told.

Because I don't remember a single thing once the camera tuned to Oprah.

I remember snippets, here and there, at random intervals through the day.

Like parts of a dream.

I remember Oprah looking right into my eyes and asking me something, and answering, looking right back into hers. I have no idea what was said, the memory is just 'Oh, I'm talking to Oprah. Would you look at that.'

I can't wait to see the actual show. For many reasons. Yikes.

Other people were able to speak, I'm told.

Lance, our 8th grader, was awesome.

John, I'm told, answered a question or two.

We still don't have an air date. They'll let us know.

So that's what I've been doing. What are y'all up to??