Oh man… talk about “one of those mornings”… let me run through mine. The plan was:

6:15  Run with Monica

7:00 Shower

7:30 Shad leaves

7:40 Bring kids to bus stop

7:50 Bring Shea to school

8:00 Drop car off for car work

8:15 Mom and Dad pick me up so I can drive them to airport

10:00 Be sitting at desk for meeting

I should have known… like the Birth Plan… don’t DO IT… Just go with the flow…

Now let me review how it really went:

5:55am I call Monica to see how close she is to the house. She let’s me know she’s down the street and has a reservation (which is hilarious given that it’s the little diner) at Cafe on the Oval – our favorite local b’fast diner and tells me her car is warm.

6:00am I embrace the thought of scrambled eggs and bacon and not running in the cold.

6:05am I climb in her car with a ski hat on, my clothes from the floor and we head down the street.

6:40am Paying and heading home.

7:00am Waking kids up

7:05am Waking kids up

7:10am Waking kids up

7:15am Trying to get Shea to match her clothes. I concede by 7:16.

7:30am Throwing lunches together

7:40am Should be leaving house but Shea is sobbing due to her uncomfortable tights and lack of footwear.

7:42am Still arguing with Shea

7:44am Bus should be coming; still arguing with Shea.

7:45am Yell Shea into car; Kate and Reilly in car – headed to bus stop.

7:46am Bus driving away with me behind it.

7:47am I stop at the next stop. Kate and Reilly get out of car. Bus drives off anyway. I drop the F-BOMB…LOUD… the bus driver saw us, I know it. Sometimes I think they have too much power in that situation. I am not the perfect bus stop Mom, that’s for sure, actually I suck at it, but that’s for another day. I know I would NOT want her job because a car ride with three children can be terrible so I can’t imagine a car ride with 73 children! Anyway Reilly I look in the rearview mirror Reilly is speechless and staring at me, Kate… I know she heard me but she wasn’t listening so with her, that works out just fine. Shea… started to cry. UGH. This is why I have this title!!!

7:48 I pull behind the bus at the next stop. NOTE: I’m still in an outrage and having a guilty internal struggle with my earlier outburst. Reilly said “Mom, you can’t pull up behind the bus, the bus driver says it’s dangerous and we can’t get on the bus from back here, we get in trouble.” My calm and level-headed response to him “TOO BAD, I don’t care. You need to get on the bus and get to school and this is how we have to do it, now go.” Both of them shuffled out of the car, not looking back, and onto the bus they went. (I did find out at the end of the day that the driver said nothing to Kate (who was still a bit oblivious) and told Reilly that I can’t do that again, it’s dangerous.”

7:55 I arrive at Shea’s school – she is clearly traumatized by the mornings events and the outbursts from me that were outside the norm. With a light wimper she asks me not to leave and to stay with her. Today… not the day… I look for teacher support and distraction… there is none. I keep looking… convinced her to look out the window for me and I scooted out the door.

7:57 I get to the car and get ready to jump in. OH MY GOSH… the car is locked and I’m looking at the happy set of keys on the middle console. CRAP. I have 10 minutes to get to my Mom and Dad. The car can no longer be dropped off and there is no way I have time to shower.

8:00 I head back into the school through the back door so Shea does not see me. I ask the two Kindergarten teachers who I know very well… “Could one of you PLEASE take me home? I’ve locked my keys in my car out front and I’m supposed to be driving my Mom to the airport in a few minutes.”God bless them both, they were both willing to take me but one would do just fine. 🙂

I got home with five minutes to spare. Not enough to take a shower but enough to compose my thoughts, get a spare set of keys, and a bottle of… water… and start heading down the hill to meet my parents. (My Mom hates my driveway so she often suggests I walk to her so she doesn’t have to drive up it.)

NOTE: I had also forgotten my phone on the counter so I couldn’t call anyone to bail me out. I actually had to use my brain with what was in front of me – not typically my first reaction.