Life is funny...

These past few days remind me of a famous quote by John Lennon, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,” and here’s why. I was so excited that I had Friday off but the kids still had school and hubby had to work-ok, that doesn’t sound too good, so how about “I was looking forward to some well deserved down time on Friday since I didn’t have to work”-there, that sounds better.

Friday

I had the whole day planned-I was going to enjoy a big breakfast after putting the kids on the bus-something of a real luxury around here for me. I am usually walking around the house, cereal bowl in hand, as I try to rouse my daughter from her dreamlike state, and let’s just say that it takes more than one trip to her room before I can confidently declare to my husband that she is “up!” On this day, we were all able to sleep in later, so there wasn’t the usual morning rush or arguments about how  my daughter had decided, overnight, that what she had planned on wearing now just wouldn’t do, at least it was this way until my husband left…
I leave the house by 6:45 every morning so it is my husband who ushers the kids out the door- I was clueless about any last minute drama that happens before the bus arrives until Friday. The one good thing that happens in the morning is that the bus stops at the bottom of our driveway, but this can be a very bad thing as well. Hubby told me to start outside around 8, and I hesitated about this at first because the bus comes at 8:15-but hubby knows more about this than me, so I herded the kids into the damp garage (it was raining) to wait.

Friday Problem #1

It was about this time that my daughter announces that she didn’t get her reading time in the night before. so back in the house we went and I grabbed the first book I saw-one that my son read to his first grade class, so more than a little elementary for her I know, but I was nervous about the bus. My son then got mad because he already read the book and wanted her to read something else, but I pulled rank on him with this one, and he started pacing the garage in disgust. My daughter was also complaining about reading a “baby book,” but since I outranked her too, she reluctantly started reading.

Friday Problem #2

Now as I said earlier, it was raining, and if you have a son you should know by now that water, especially the kind from murky brown mud puddles, is an instant attraction. Since I was listening intently to the story, I did not see my son venture out until my daughter, who was not enjoying the story as intently as I, tattled on her brother, oblivious to us and splish-splashing away. The puddles weren’t that deep (thankfully!), because it was almost 8:20 and I was certain we didn’t have time for a change of both shoes and socks. “Get out of the rain,” I shouted with more than a little agitation in my voice. “I’m watching for the bus,” he snapped-quick response I had to admit. “You don’t have to be in the rain to see the bus, besides,” I retorted, “I’m pretty sure we will be able to hear it coming. Get in here NOW !”

Wait a second, it was 8: 20, so where was that darn bus? I knew we hadn’t missed it because we were out way to early for that, and besides, I could see the neighbor boy waiting down the road.

And just as the thought entered my mind, I heard the familiar lumbering sound of that beautiful yellow machine, but before I could get my hug and kiss from my son, he was already halfway down the driveway, and my once sluggish daughter was leading the way! I called and waved, but she never looked back, even when she got in her seat! So like a dumb ____ (I will let you fill in the blank) I started jumping up and down waving, convinced that neither saw me-yea right. At least I got a stare and half a wave from my son, but nothing from my daughter. Wait till you get off the bus, I thought slyly. I am going to be overly affectionate in my welcome home greeting-insert evil laugh here!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday Problems, oh my!

Those few moments seemed to set the mood for the entire rest of my wonderfully planned weekend. My Friday morning breakfast-I burnt my toast and overflowed my Cream of Wheat in the microwave. My Friday morning workout-I decided to jump on the computer really quick (uh huh!) and then because I hadn’t slept too well despite sleeping in, I decided a mid-morning nap (right...) would be ok, but I slept for two glorious hours, and by then it was lunch time, so I had to eat, and you know I can’t work out on a full stomach...I dilly-dallied around the house for another hour before going, but it was going to be a quick work out because I had to be back when the kids got off the bus…(Insert sigh here.  Why do I make things so hard?)

By Friday night I was coughing, but I didn’t have a cold so my guess is that I caught something from the gym that day. (In my haste I didn’t wipe down the leg curl bench-I just threw my sweatshirt on it but then put that same sweatshirt back over my head when I left-EWW!! With all the H1N1 stuff I had been adamant with the kids about germs, so I still can’t believe I actually “swabbed the bench” with my sweatshirt then wore the germ filled thing home!

Saturday I was still coghing but I had my plan-I was supposed to take my son to get a new winter jacket and new pajamas while my daughter was at practice, and then I was going to get my hair done, something my son was not at all happy about, but the thought of new Superman pajamas dispelled some of his pain. I was so close to getting in that chair for my hair appointment when my cell phone rang-my daughter was feeling sick to her stomach. By the time I got her home, she was feeling much better and I was feeling much worse.

For the next nine hours, I went from casually lying on the couch to feeling like I was dying in my bed, and the only human contact I got was around 4:30p.m when my husband casually asked if I was going to eat any dinner. (Translation: Do you feel well enough to cook? Answer: No freak'n way!)

Aren't you finished yet?

Not quite. I felt better by Saturday night, but Sunday morning I awoke to severe stomach cramps again-now what? I shouldn’t have asked-mother nature was kind enough to bestow a gift on me this morning-so I was once again on the couch feeling like crap. I felt better by Sunday afternoon, but I still wanted a haircut, so I convinced my reluctant husband to take me for a rescheduled hair appointment (I never had this young lady before).

Let’s just say that when I emerged, fully coiffed, my son was laughing, my daughter was trying hard not to, and my saintly husband said, “That’s different.” I found out as I was sitting in the chair, that this young lady had just graduated from beauty school the week before-something I am now coming to grips with because I looked a lot like her when I left.



I am sitting here having just tamed my wild hair and once again I am reminded that no matter how much you plan, life might have something else in store for you, and these are the times that my family and I will laugh about (maybe not the illness thing) in the years to come.  Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying, “Were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults in the first,” but I am not sure I would rewrite a single thing in mine… Goodnight everyone.