Ugh! It doesn't take much to put me in a tailspin. A simple one hour time change will do it quite sufficiently. My son and I both had a devil of a time getting out of bed this morning, and then horror of horrors, I was looking at a clock that didn't get switched and failed to pick him up at noon (never mind the itty bitty one in the corner of the computer screen I was sitting in front of)! An ENTIRE week of half days for conferences WOULD have to coincide with Spring Forward! Really? This is good planning?
Am I the only mom who requires a good week to maybe a month to become accustomed to the spring time change? I don't seem to have nearly the problem adjusting in the fall that I do in the spring. Maybe the problem is when I lose that hour, it takes me until fall to find it.
Of course, this isn't the first time I've failed to pick up a child, and Lord help me, but it probably won't be the last either. When my oldest daughter was young and I was working full-time, there was one day a week she didn't go to her after school program because she had Brownies. This meant I had to collect her half an hour earlier that night than the rest of the week. This created a bit of a problem. I'm pretty good when I can get into a routine, but any little wrinkle and I'm trying to head off trouble at the pass. Mind you, this was well before iPhones with alarms and calendars were invented to keep us on track. I had only my Franklin Planner, and as brilliant as they were at the time, it didn't yell at me to go pick up my kid! So...let's just say there were occasions when I might have arrived a few minutes late.
Snooty Mrs. Brownie Leader did not like me, and therefore she didn't like my child. She clearly saw herself as Mrs. Perfect Mom and saw me as Single Loser Mom, when I was really more like Trying To Keep Her Car From Getting Repossessed and Keep Her Kid Alive Mom. In the long run I failed at the first part (briefly; got it refinanced and got it back, thanks to someone who didn't look down on single moms), but must say I did pretty brilliantly at the second part because my daughter is a Purdue graduate and will marry her high school sweetheart later this year.
Anyhow, Snooty Mrs. Brownie Leader had warned me that this particular Tuesday I had to be on time because she was leaving at exactly 5:30 to go vote at the Baroda Town Hall. Well that's like inviting a kid not to take the last jelly bean when you turn your back. I mean, if you put it in my mind, make me fret and obsess about it all day long, chances are pretty good that it's going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy and become exactly what I do. It's just the way I'm wired! I don't like being wired that way, but I am.
So I drive frantically all the way from Whirlpool, which is way north of town, to Hollywood School, which is far south of town, only to find the parking lot empty and the gymnasium doors locked. Remember that this was well before iPhones? I didn't even have the Michael Douglas shoe phone from Wall Street! I had to drive through my tears to a payphone at a gas station and call my brother who lived two blocks from the Baroda Town Hall. He sprinted across the lawns in his bare feet, found her with Snooty Brownie Leader, and sprinted back to his house with her on his shoulders, giggling and delighted at the prospect of spending the unexpected time with her uncle and aunt.
Yeah...she never went to Brownies again. And she didn't miss it one bit. Unfortunately, my son still has to go to school tomorrow.
Am I the only mom who requires a good week to maybe a month to become accustomed to the spring time change? I don't seem to have nearly the problem adjusting in the fall that I do in the spring. Maybe the problem is when I lose that hour, it takes me until fall to find it.
Of course, this isn't the first time I've failed to pick up a child, and Lord help me, but it probably won't be the last either. When my oldest daughter was young and I was working full-time, there was one day a week she didn't go to her after school program because she had Brownies. This meant I had to collect her half an hour earlier that night than the rest of the week. This created a bit of a problem. I'm pretty good when I can get into a routine, but any little wrinkle and I'm trying to head off trouble at the pass. Mind you, this was well before iPhones with alarms and calendars were invented to keep us on track. I had only my Franklin Planner, and as brilliant as they were at the time, it didn't yell at me to go pick up my kid! So...let's just say there were occasions when I might have arrived a few minutes late.
Snooty Mrs. Brownie Leader did not like me, and therefore she didn't like my child. She clearly saw herself as Mrs. Perfect Mom and saw me as Single Loser Mom, when I was really more like Trying To Keep Her Car From Getting Repossessed and Keep Her Kid Alive Mom. In the long run I failed at the first part (briefly; got it refinanced and got it back, thanks to someone who didn't look down on single moms), but must say I did pretty brilliantly at the second part because my daughter is a Purdue graduate and will marry her high school sweetheart later this year.
Anyhow, Snooty Mrs. Brownie Leader had warned me that this particular Tuesday I had to be on time because she was leaving at exactly 5:30 to go vote at the Baroda Town Hall. Well that's like inviting a kid not to take the last jelly bean when you turn your back. I mean, if you put it in my mind, make me fret and obsess about it all day long, chances are pretty good that it's going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy and become exactly what I do. It's just the way I'm wired! I don't like being wired that way, but I am.
So I drive frantically all the way from Whirlpool, which is way north of town, to Hollywood School, which is far south of town, only to find the parking lot empty and the gymnasium doors locked. Remember that this was well before iPhones? I didn't even have the Michael Douglas shoe phone from Wall Street! I had to drive through my tears to a payphone at a gas station and call my brother who lived two blocks from the Baroda Town Hall. He sprinted across the lawns in his bare feet, found her with Snooty Brownie Leader, and sprinted back to his house with her on his shoulders, giggling and delighted at the prospect of spending the unexpected time with her uncle and aunt.
Yeah...she never went to Brownies again. And she didn't miss it one bit. Unfortunately, my son still has to go to school tomorrow.
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