Miles of Love
I am going to take a wild guess right now that I am not the only parent who feels like a taxi cab. I didn’t know that getting my license at age 16 was going to be one of the greatest accomplishments in my life. Who knew how much I was going to need that license. I drive my minivan all over town with my three kids and extras sometimes too.
I left my mother in laws house and took the first drive down Hopkins to my daughters Elementary school.
I was picking them all up for dentist appointments. I hurried out of school and then drove to the middle school to pick up my son. It was the end of my daughters day but my son was missing the end of his day and I could tell that I was throwing him off.
We are all finally in the car and I drive back down Hopkins towards the dentist. I forgot that three children at the dentist is pure madness. I made the mistake of asking Lillie if she wanted to come with me or if she wanted me to have someone pick her up. I should have known better. Lillie already got her teeth cleaned and really did not need to come with me. I let her decide to come to the dentist. While Ella and Max got their teeth cleaned Lillie talked to the hygienist non stop. By the time the cleanings were finished my kids were bouncing off the walls. I imagine sitting all day in school leads to not wanting to sit any longer. The dentist examines their teeth, we meet their adorable therapy dog and we head on our way. Back down Hopkins again I go to drop Max and Ella off at home.
We grab pants for Lillie and run to tennis. We are late. There is nothing I can do. Sometimes it is not possible for me to be on time. I am coming to terms with this fact. As anal as I am about being on time, sometimes I have to let it go. This was one of those times. I felt myself minorly freak out as I rushed to get Lillie in the car. I am making progress. A few years ago I would have had a major meltdown about being late. This is what a third child does to me. All three kids have so much going on and I finally realize that all I can do is my best. I can’t ask for anything more of myself. No one cares if you are late for tennis.
Lillie has a ball doing tennis with her friends and we rush (yes down Hopkins) home to get Ella. Max gets ready for soccer and Seth and Max take off. I grab Ella and we head to theater for her voice lesson. I take a minute to think on my drive to theater. Lillie absolutely loved tennis and Ella was so excited to go to her voice lesson. I cannot complain. My kids are happy and I am making all of this happen. I can only imagine how many miles I am putting on my car today.
We are home at 6:15 and I start dinner. It seems we are eating later and later. I remind myself that it isn’t a big deal at all how late we are going to eat dinner. The amount of criticism I give myself during the day needs to stop. I am making it a mission to give myself compliments throughout my crazy days. Max doesn’t get home til 7:15 and the girls were happily playing. No one cared that I had just started dinner. You see that I need to reassure myself sometimes to get through a crazy day!
Seth and Max walk through the door and join us eating dinner. Max told me he has a lot of homework and I know it is approaching 8:00 and he hasn’t even started his homework. He usually gets a ton of homework done at school but I pulled him early for the dentist so he didn’t get to work on his homework at school. Lesson learned.
Max tells me he forgot his science homework and asks me to start texting people. Seriously? This doesn’t happen often and I try to remind myself of this. I know my nerves are shot because it is getting late. I know how Max rushes out of school. I want him to take his time and remember everything. I remind myself again that I can’t remember the last time this happened. I tell him my friend is at work and I can’t text her. I start going through the list of moms that I know. “Max, you are lucky that I am social!” I tell him as I text people.
My wonderful friend helps me by giving me two more moms cell phone numbers. One of them gives us the pages and pages of Science homework that Max now has to go do. Have I mentioned how much I hate homework? My kids have activities every day except Friday. We do not have time for homework. Especially today.
It is 10:00 at night as I type this. If I told you I was falling over that would be an understatement. Max just finished his homework. I don’t want any of you to freak out. Max does not usually have this much homework. In fact, he uses his study hall (they call it a clinic) so well that he rarely ever brings homework home. Tonight was a rare and unfortunate night. He plowed through and got it all done. Do I wish that he would have remembered his homework? Yes! Do I wish that he would have texted his friends himself? Yes! We will get there. He is a smart and resourceful kid. I have faith in him.
I hope you are all putting miles of love on your minivans. I hope that your kids had less homework then mine today. I am realizing as I type this that tomorrow is Friday. I don’t think that I could be happier. TGIF! Have a wonderful weekend.
Important Lessons from today:
1. Repeatedly go over with my children that they need to stop and think before they leave school in regards to remembering everything that they need. This includes homework, agendas, lunch boxes, instruments….
2. It is ok to be late. I don’t believe this one but I am working on it.
3. It is ok to eat dinner late. Whatever works for your schedule!
4. Give myself more praise and less criticism.
