If you’re a mom with school aged kids, I am giving you a virtual high five right now, not only because you deserve it, but because you get it. You get the chaos of what it means to physically get your humans dressed, fed, prepared, and out the door. Every. Week day. Morning. And if you haven’t experienced this miracle in your life yet, let me paint you the glamorous picture (at the risk of making you insanely jealous).
I am a mother of three. One daughter is a Sophomore. My other daughter is in Middle School. My son is in Elementary School. Three different schools with start times of 7:40, 8:00 and 8:40 am. I am pretty sure I have earned a medal for that fact alone. Like a gold one, with some diamonds and junk.
Every morning starts with my alarm going off: my high schooler barges into my room, very loudly exclaiming “Mom! It’s 7:10″! This is my cue to jump out of bed and go to the bathroom before anyone else in the family monopolizes it. This is also where the mirror lovingly reminds me I only got 6 hours of sleep last night. So, with pajamas on, bags under my eyes, remnants of yesterday’s mascara, and a hairstyle that would make Medusa cringe, I spend 5 minutes looking for my car keys while our 2 dogs and 3 cats beg for their morning meal (they’ll have to wait an hour). My daughter frantically runs around…”does this look ok?” showing me her outfit choice for the day, as I gulp down a glass of water. “Yes, you look beautiful, as always”. She grabs her violin, lunch and backpack, and I am still looking for my car keys. Eventually we make it to the car by 7:25, and drive the 15 minutes to her high school.
If any of you are in the vicinity of Doherty High School between 7:15 – 7:45 am on a week day morning, you have my heart felt empathy. The stop lights are long, the lines are longer, and fuses are short. People honk at each other, flash the finger, stare at my messy hair, and shout expletives… it’s my not-so-happy place. Meanwhile, teenagers are running around everywhere, darting in front of your vehicle with no warning or explanation.
I just woke up 10 minutes ago, people! I don’t have the mental capacity to deal with these kinds of things. It’s like a bad game of Super Mario Bros. with no gold coins.
Somehow I get my daughter safely dropped off, and then it’s a mad dash back to the house, because remember? My 8-year-old starts school at 8, which is basically in 15 minutes! Thankfully my husband has the task of waking up our son, which is no easy feat. He’s basically a tiny Zombie in the morning. I usually walk in with him laying on the couch in his underwear. A half attempt at getting dressed, but not quite making it. I kid you not, in 10 minutes this boy is fed, dressed and reminded to use the bathroom. He’s quickly learned if he doesn’t eat his breakfast fast, the dogs will. While he does that, I scramble around the kitchen throwing his lunch together as well as his homework folder, papers, library books, forms, etc. With his eyes half open he brushes his teeth and hair, mutters how much he hates school, and he’s out the door with dad. Thankfully Dad also has the task of getting him to school. We literally live 6 houses away from the school. We literally also never make it to school on time. I promise you, if his teacher realized how close we lived to the school she would shame me on Facebook like those dogs that wear signs saying they ate the shower curtain.
Speaking of dogs, this is also the time of day when my animals follow me around until I feed them. All 5 of them. They trip me going up the stairs, they trip me coming down the stairs. (Yes, I’m a Saint in case you haven’t figured this out yet). I open up fifty million cans of pet food and plop it in their bowls. Bon apetit.
My middle schooler is up by now and getting herself ready. We rush around, usually asking each other where a phone charger is, and her asking me where a particular item of clothing is. I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the past hour and a half, and as I dig through laundry helping her to find what she’s looking for, I realize everyone has eaten but me, and everyone definitely looks much, much cuter than me.
We get packed up with a few minutes to spare, and it’s usually a 50/50 chance that I need gas or we won’t make it to the school. So we drive in the opposite direction of the school to get gas so we can make it to school… and I pump the gas in my pajamas. I’m trying really hard to start a trend. Won’t you join me? Oh wait, if you’re a mom you started this trend a long time ago! *insert another high five*
On my way home, I listen to Johnjay and Rich on the radio, laugh a little, and things start to settle down. There’s a great sigh of relief when I know my kids are all safe at school. There’s a sense of accomplishment, and astounding wonder that we do this EVERY DAY. And that I get to pick all three of them up from school and do it all over again in just 6 hours! And then we get to run around to activities and practices and try to eat dinner while juggling homework and not killing each other. Moms do hard things! Our day constantly revolves around our kids and their well being. Despite the embarrassment of driving around town in my pajamas and flip flops, and sometimes not having time to pee or eat, I am blessed to do it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
On those crazy days, I remember a little note my son folded up and gave me before school started this year. I keep it by my jewelry box. It simply says “You are awsome”. It’s misspelled and it’s disheveled. Kind of like me. Kind of like life. But it’s absolutely perfect, because it came from him. Despite my imperfections and lack of grace on most days, he loves me just the way I am.
And then I get home, ready to eat some breakfast, shower, and start my work day, and I get the phone call…. “Mom, I forgot my lunch”. And I’m still in my pajamas.
