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The important First-Day-Of-School (FDOS) has passed.
With its first-day outfits, hair dos, school supplies, shoes, and angst.
And pictures of the same.
And now we take stock. To store away for the next FDOS . . .
My good friend, Betty (I do hope she doesn’t mind me calling her Betty!) has three kids of her own.
And she fosters babies.
Tiny ones.
I know. She’s my hero, too.
Her kids attend two different schools.
Neither within walking distance of their home.
Her FDOS takes planning:
1. Stay up till midnight, getting FDOS supplies sorted, labelled and stowed.
2.Up at 6:00 AM.
3. Shower and makeup.
4. Babies (she has two) up and bathed and changed and fed.
5. Kids up and dressed.
6. Kids kitted out for FDOS.
7. Kids in the car.
8. Drop off kid #1.
9. Drop off kid #2.
10. Home again by 8:30.
11. Have baby #2 ready for pick up by care worker at 8:32.
12. And breathe.
See? Planning.
And she did it. All of it.
She’s supermom. Or the close earthly equivalent.
Feeling happily accomplished, she set her four-year-old to playing, parked baby #1 beside some toys and began to tidy the kitchen.
Then she opened the freezer.
And discovered the breakfast she had been going to feed her school kids.
No wonder she had managed to get everything done.
SHE HAD FORGOTTEN TO FEED HER FAMILY!!!
All sense of triumph drained away in an instant.
She felt horrible. She had sent her children to school with empty stomachs.
Okay, yes, they did have a good-sized morning snack.
And an even bigger lunch.
And throughout the summer, they had never wanted breakfast before 10:00 AM.
But still . . .
When Betty told me this story, we laughed.
Betty tells it well.
And hindsight is often really funny.
But it got me thinking. (I do that sometimes.)
About Betty’s to-do list for her FDOS.
And how she had done it. Almost.
It made me tired.
Yep. One breakfast out of the year forgotten . . .
I still think she’s amazing.
When everything seems to be going well it's a sure sign that it isn't.
ReplyDeleteWith all the amazing things she did that day I️ bet all she remembers is the one mistake. Aren’t we awful to ourselves?
ReplyDeleteEchoing Donna. We really need to cut ourselves some slack - and applaud our achievements just as we do those of other people.
ReplyDeleteI knew a woman who had two older children and then one quite a bit younger. One day a couple of months after the birth of the last one, she hopped in her car and started to drive into town before she realized she couldn't do that now.
ReplyDeleteAnd I "may" have forgotten my son's dismissal time one day when I was visiting a pre-school with my daughter.
Just don't ever ask me to do two things at once and I'll be fine. Your friend, however, was doing way more than two things! No wonder something got overlooked!
I remember the planning days when I had three kids in primary school, all at the same school thank goodness,because we walked there,and a just walking baby still at home. By week two, the planning had become routine.
ReplyDeleteAwesome blog, i always enjoy & read the post you are sharing. Thank for your very good article...!
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