We have five members in our family. Only two of those members are adults and everyone has somewhere to be.

When both Bear and I are in the game, we have an unspoken system of sharing adult duties.

But when one adult loses the ability to perform their adult duties, those duties fall to the other adult.

Recently, my husband’s adult duties became mine and I became an uber driver in a split second.

Bear joined an “old man” rugby team this year. It was all fun until his Achilles Tendon tore five minutes into a game. It was like the poor guy got shot by a sniper. My competitive side giggled briefly and then he tried to get up.  He could barely walk, never mind perform any adult duties.

I was instantly wondering how the hell we were going to keep things together.

Once the initial emergency room visit, surgery and second emergency room visit had been survived, Bear was couch bound. He couldn’t drive, couldn’t stand for any length of time, couldn’t help with the kids and needed help to shower.

Our family requires both parents to be on their game and now I’m pitching and catching 24/7 while Bear sits in the dugout wondering what we are having for breakfast, lunch and dinner and when said meals will be ready.

We are currently in the middle of his six to eight weeks of (being useless) recovery.

My girls now do chores at 6am, everyone is in the car by 7am and a 1 hour and 15 minute round trip of school and work drop-offs start my uber driving day. When I get home, it’s chores, workout, all things William, drive around for appointments, groceries and errands. 2:20pm comes quick and I’m back on the road to get the Beast from school. Then it’s driving to squash, driving home for dinner and driving to get my oldest from school at 9pm.

We get home around 9:30pm and those few moments before the girls head up to bed are a highlight of the day. William is already in bed, Beast comes out to greet her sister, they lollygag around my kitchen, we chat about our days, have some amazing laughs and get sorted for the next day.

I’ll take the uber driving if that’s what keeps us all thriving. And spending more time with my girls is the silver lining – payment accepted!

~ Keely

Keely is an author and advocate for children living with disabilities. She lives on Vancouver Island in beautiful British Columbia, with her husband, her son William who has cerebral palsy, her two daughters and several four-legged friends.