Friday, January 7, 2011

Like Your Favourite Old Sneakers - Stinky but Comfortable

Let me state right off the bat that I am grateful for a return to 'normal' life. Life after the Christmas tree and the wrapping paper. Life after the food frenzy and the dropping of the New Years ball. Life after the line ups and returns, the late nights, quick dinners, social cocktails, cookie trays, boxes of chocolates and school holidays.

I love them all but man am I glad it's over. Never is there a day that I truly 'enjoy' getting up for work like that first day back after the holidays. I think I miss the routine, the predictability of a typical day, the ebb and flow of day to day life.

Even when it looks like this...


Monday
E-man gets up for school excited as all get out. Chomping at the bit to get back into the classroom. He also has a headache and upset stomach as a result of his anxious excitement. This is normal.

  • By 9 am we are all at our respected places of employment and learning.
  • By 10:30 the phone at work is ringing.
  • By 10:40 I am picking E-man up from school. He is devastated, not only because he's sick to his stomach but also because he's sick to his stomach all over his prized Sydney Crosby jersey.
  • By 2:00 things are great.
  • by 4 pm we've returned to teasing our sisters and ignoring our parents.
Tuesday we're going back to school

Tuesday
  • 3 am...E-man has a headache and upset stomach. Apparently the 90 minutes he spent at school on Monday weren't enough to curb his excitement.
  • 5:30 am...having been awake for an hour and a half I call into work. I can't be there, I need to be here and E-man NEEDS to go to school and stick it out for a full day. He's going to need my help to get there.
  • Success! 3:30 pm E-man arrives home. Happy, content and with a sore throat.
  • 6:30 pm Lula drops the ball on the family responsibility and loses her ride to the movies. (insert tears.)
Wednesday
  • No school for E-man. KJ get a day off to pass kleenex and make tea.
  • Lula makes another attempt at her movie mission, with success
  • 6:30 - 9:40 we drive...to the gas station, to the boyfriend's, to the movies, back from the movies, to clothing stores to look for pants for KJ, to the grocery store, back to the theatre, to the boyfriend's, to the drug store for more medicine.
Thursday
  • KJ gets to go to school.
  • Lula gets a day off treat. She gets to make noodles and play video games with the patient.
  • We manage to get to bed early and sleep through the night!
Friday
  • Everybody gets to go to school! They probably all have runny noses and sore throats anyway, might as well keep each other company.
  • Work is work.
  • Michael is still in meetings at 5:30. Lula gets to walk to work.
  • I get some time to tap.
All in all it's been crazy around here! I love it

There's so much to be grateful for
  • understanding employers
  • understanding teachers, principals, and school Secretaries
  • washing machines
  • KJ & Lula and their great school marks, makes giving them a day off possible.
  • Tea
  • late night drugstores
  • family diners
  • chores
  • food network
  • work
  • coffee
  • KJ wore her headgear all night, every night
  • Lula cleaned the bathroom
  • E-man shoveled sidewalks and rinks
  • it got cold again and Michael got the rink back in shape
Life, normal and predictably unpredictable gives me so much to be grateful for.