A Little Kick in the Ass…

Excuse the language, but friends, that’s what it was.

So, I’m a busy lady. Blah, blah, blah. What’s new? Who isn’t?!

Most days it feels like I’m juggling paper-thin glass balls, just hoping nothing distracts me causing my hilariously clumsey life balls to come crashing down. Here are the main categories in which I’d classify our collective Adamo family life:

1. Parenthood (including Bridget’s schedule of school/daycare/socials)

2. Marriage (by that I mean a HAPPY one)

3. School

4. Friends

5. Immediate Family

6. Work (oh yeah, almost forgot about that one!)

7. Finances

8. Miscellaneous (you know you’ve got a misc category, too, which often proves to be the largest and most delicate life ball of all!)

Whether you’re a novice of expert level juggler, a bauble is always bound to occur, and one certainly happened for me a little over a week ago. Indulge me with a read:

I had Bridget’s Meet the Teacher time/date on the calendar (by that I mean “mental calendar”, which is basically the problem…but as I’ll say later, its not like I haven’t tried!) since it was given to me about 2 months ago. In my mind, it was always the last Thursday in August. More on that to come. I also learned that our Parent Orientation would be Thursday night at 6:30. Jonathan had an important event at work and I had class at 7:50. Shocker, we were all double-booked. Sent a note to my prof warning him of my imminently late arrival…check.

A few days prior, sweet Julie had scheduled her cleaning lady to come do my house for me as a way return a favor I did for her this summer. Bliss!!! Originally planned for Wednesday (perfect – I’d be at work all day and the house would be empty), that appointment needed to be bumped to Thursday. Hmmm. I could make this work. Instead of coming home for nap after Meet the Teacher (in Dallas) and then heading back to Dallas (Mimi and Pop babysitting during parent orientation/my Thursday class) immediately after, B and I would pack all we needed for the day and just do nap at Mimi’s. Perfect!! The car was loaded…and we were actually ON TIME!

Of course, I’d been pumping her up about meeting Miss Trish for weeks. We both were dressed to impress and should have been concerned when the only other little ones walking in were definitely younger than B (think young 2s instead of 3s). Oblivious. We strolled to Miss Trish’s room, boldly claimed that we were here to meet her, only to be told that Meet the Teacher is actually TOMORROW at 11am, not TODAY. Ya’ll, I barely made it out of the school before bursting into full on tears. As you can imagine, Bridget started crying as soon as we turned away from her adorable classroom. I don’t even think I made a response to Miss Trish at all, just turned on my heels and walked away. That is so not me!

Well, I strapped a screaming B bad into her car seat, placed myself in the car, and proceed to throw my own pity party. Tears and all. I even unbuckled B and asked her to climb in the front seat with me for some hugs. We both needed it! All I could think about was how I could have sent her to Kathy’s today so I wouldn’t have to miss those 8 hours of work that I’d now be missing on Friday. I had so much to do at work!!! How could I let this happen?!

Once we’d both calmed down, I strapped us back in and headed out of the parking lot to my parents’ place. Pretty much immediately after hearing my mom’s voice on the phone (now driving on a major street), I burst into tears again! Ugh, hormones. My sadness turned into annoyance when I heard her say, “maybe now’s the time to start using a real calendar” (we’d just talked about that subject the day before this…she’s caught me red-handed). Don’t we all love and hate that “mom knows best”?!?! Again, ugh.

A small glass of wine was waiting for me upon arrival. An example of what I love about “mom knows best”. The afternoon went decently (see previous posts referencing the “theapy 3s” and lack of naps), despite my insane allegy attacks. Not to mention that about 30 minutes after I’d told my mom how embarrassed I was by my utter grumpiness upon meeting Miss Trish and finding out the “bad news”, I got a text from an unknown number. It was her! She apologized for the mix-up and said she was glad to get a chance to chat later that evening at the parent event. I couldn’t have typed my response fast enough – telling her how embarrassed I was and how eager I was to make a second first impression!

Once 6pm came around, Pop was home as well and Bridget wasn’t too upset about me leaving (major separation anxiety these days…when it rains!) so I headed out to the parent orientation. It was amazing and made we that much more comfortable with our decision to send her to this school. Ahhh. Only draw back? Extreme allergies!!! Though I’d told myself that if the event was over by 8:15 I was still going to class, when it finished at 8:07 you’d better believe I gifted myself with a night of skipping. No regrets on that one! I needed to get my over-tired girl home for much needed Daddy hugs.

And I walked into a FABULOUSLY CLEAN HOME. Again, ahhhh. What a day! Did I mention the quick Anna-time pop-in visit to Barnes & Noble I made on my way to get B from my parents' house? Yep. I picked up a cookie and a purse-fitting “Do It All Mom” planner. The name was calling me, for some reason . Someone was using this sort of day to give me the little kick in the rear I needed to remind me how important it is not to take life too seriously. What a day…

So. After a day like that, I was ready to enjoy life a little more on Friday. This is how we started our morning together, and the day pretty much lived up to the hope breakfast provided. It’s the little things…