My palms began to sweat, and I swear I was on the verge of breaking out in hives.
As I looked over my calendar, one especially important day had slipped my mind. The next day was picture day at my children’s school.
I had made no haircut appointments, no bath water had been run, no clothes laid out, now hairbows organized…I wasn’t even sure what we had for supper that night. In fact, I began to wonder if I could even find a pair of matching socks.
Things like this happen to me all the time. I tell myself I am going to be better prepared. I buy fancy calendars. I decorate nifty “to-do” lists to hang on the fridge. I put reminders in my cell phone. But nothing seems to work.
But somehow, I manage to pull it off.
I have arranged fruit skewers on the way to school for Valentine’s Day parties because I forgot I was “party mom.” I have dropped my children off at school in my pajamas. I have walked around all day with what I thought was coffee on my shirt…it wasn’t.
I have sent my kids to school in the wrong costumes during Homecoming Week. I have hot-glued felt on my kids’ costumes in the bathroom moments before the school play.
I forget I invited my kids’ friends over, and that the pantry is running dry. At that point, the kids are informed that baked beans, fruit snacks and a slice of bread (cubed) is a full meal.
It has totally left my mind that I would host a water day in the back yard. No one seemed to noticed the duct tape on last year’s slip and slide or that the Kool-Aid was served hot. (I forgot it was left in the trunk, OK?). Also, water day constitutes a bath, right?
Dress rehearsal for ballet? Yep, that was my little girl with bread ties in her hair because I couldn’t find a rubber band. I found it later around my wrist.
Ever wonder why I never wait in the carpool line? Because I’m running late, and I am usually the last one there.
During little league season, I am usually the last to be assigned as snack mom. Perhaps it is because last season I brought Tic-Tacs and leftover two-liters of soda from “Momma’s night out with the girls.”
I almost missed my best friend’s birthday party because I was debating on if I needed stitches in my foot from stepping on a Lego.
Yes, I hope that one day I can manage balancing out play dates, school functions, social events and everyday life. But I probably won’t, and I am fine with that. And more importantly, my kids are fine with it.
They have adjusted to this crazy life, and it’s all they have really known. But I’ve got to give them credit, they can roll with the punches like champions.
They don’t care that they are always running late. Their clothes may not match. But they go to bed happy, and the world keeps turning.
And they know that somehow, whether we’re coming in on two wheels or getting dressed on the way there, Momma is gonna get the job done.
I may be in my yoga pants for the second day in a row. My hair might be an unplanned messy bun. I will wipe their faces with a wet wipe seconds before they are dropped off. And the cookies for the bake sale may still have a price tag on them.
But it got done. And it got done with style – even if it’s an unusual style.
