Thursday, February 4, 2010

another story to tell.

i've done it again!  resisting murphy's law is when i get into trouble.  if i could have just gone along with murphy, things would have been different. i have to pay attention...i have to be on my toes...i have to lookout for murphy.  murphy and i  have been together a long time. murphy is the closest thing to a paparazzi in my life, waiting for just the right moment to jump out from behind a bush!

biff had a business trip.....he was up and out early monday morning.  i was up and ready to start the drill....get those tired teens out of bed and off to the bus. i had lots to do.  write my blog, start my e-bay business, walk the dogs and have a cup of coffee.  not quite a corporate merger, but for me, the technology of e-bay had me all jazzed up and ready to learn...remedial or not.

i've got the checking account, the post office box, the stuff to sell, the e-bay account...littlemarymixup. i even have a mentor!  'i can do this... i can do this...i can do this....just do it..just do it...just do it...."
is my new chant.  slow and steady....

so, back to murphy.  grace gave it her all to get the bus...oops!  a valiant try.... i had to drive her.  so, the next job was to shake up the morning and wake up t.j.....easier said than done.  he was pleading with me to stay home...his throat was sore...he wanted me to check to see if he had a fever...he felt week.  he made no effort to move out from under the cozy covers.

grace was feeling the pressure..."take away his x-box"...."he's going to make me late"....he's obviously faking".....""take away his x-box"......"pleeeeeeeeease  drive me to school! i'm going to be late!"

after threatening and  raising my voice...(i hate when that happens).....i dashed out the door to take grace to her school.  i race back to get t.j.....after all, i had made it my mission to get him up and out the door and to school....i couldn't believe it was a sore throat...i was feeling taken advantage of...was it just because biff was off on vacation...oh! i mean a  business trip.  i told that stubborn son t.j. who was challenging me i would be back...i would be back....i would be in the driveway.....no if's ands or buts....or butts!

think wizard of oz music with margaret hamilton riding on that bike.....da da da da..dadada......i waited in the driveway. t.j came limping out with backpack in hand and only his toes in his sneakers.  all right!  i won...i made my point...and away we drove.  frustrated, he slid out the door and slowly stomped into the school.


i was off....back home, up the driveway, into the house and back to the dogs....who looked very confused by the neverending firedrill that we had just lived through.  i'm glad they were there...i needed someone to talk to.  they were the closest to an adult that i was going to have in the house til the end of the week.

i made more coffee and went to e-bay school...i took my notes out and began MY day.....after i fed the dogs and walked the dogs and took my shower.  i was late for school too.


well, grace got home from school. t.j. got home from school.  and we began again.  homework.  frustration.  sore throat.  dinner. showers. bed.  and poof! it was tuesday morning.  t.j.still didn't feel great.  today was the ski bus after school.   i had to drop off grace's skis at her school and t.j.'s snowboard and both kids would get on their luxury coach bus and go off to ski with lots of other kids and be back home by 9p.m.....to eat dinner, shower and get to bed to start all over tomorrow.

that was the plan. in between doing my own work, walking the dogs, going to an appointment, going to a meeting for moms of tweens,dropping off equipment at two schools....i left my phone at the farm where i had my coffee.  i didn't know this until i saw my kids at ski bus.  that's when they each told me that my phone was at the farm.  no wonder why my morning had been so quiet.  my phone was 15 miles away.....my quiet afternoon of starting my business would be spent in transit.  and t.j. informed me that he did not have his boots in his bag....and he knew my phone was at the farm because...get this.....he called me from the nurses office earlier to tell me that he didn't feel great and the nurse thought he might have strep throat.  oops.  murphy...again....when mr. murphy goes out of town that's when it hits the fan....sometimes big and sometimes small.  he was still going to go on ski bus.

he really was sick.  i hate when that happens.  and when he called me from the nurse, my phone was at the farm. when my ship comes in, i'll be at the airport.  cell phone. day in day out.  cell phone..everywhere...i have that cell phone everywhere except when i'm in the ocean.  it's my lifeline.  and besides all of my social calls.....i'm supposed to be available. oops.


i haven't had that happen in my mother career....except for that one time that grace will never let me forget.  she was only four years old.  she was at her montessori school.  in the morning, she told me that she didn't feel so good.  she seemed fine to me.  i sent her to school 3 hours later, i went to pick her up...she was like a raggedy ann doll...all flopsy.  and the line she'll never let me forget is,"and i fell asleep in the library chair"....a big event apparently....when you're four.

i guess i deserve just  a bit of that.  i did the same to my mom...and over the years that story grew and grew, more and more dramatic, just to egg her on.  i would tell my library chair moment.  "remember in fifth grade when i didn't feel well....and you dropped me off at school....and i stopped in front of the gates....i was bent over...almost in tears....remember the pain i was in.....remember that you told me to stop faking and get in there."  that was a great one....i got back in the car....she finally had to take me to the doctor...it was a kidney infection!  i milked that story forever and i'm still telling it.  i guess i'll be hearing more about the day of ski bus.  i'll be hearing about him missing two days of school....his doctor's appointment....and my missing cell phone.  the one good thing that i'll remember is that when i went to pick up the cell phone, 4 towns away, the woman who serves me coffee and who acted as my social secretary told me that i had a busy morning ....and that my children were very polite!

oh, biff isn't home yet.  there's supposed to be a snow storm coming our way.  he should be home tonight.  i'm prepared for murphy and i'm prepared for the weatherman to be off by a day.  just look for his plane circling over connecticut....that will be him!  and i'll have another story to tell.