Freedom!

I'm here.  Barely alive, but I'm here.  I have spent the last three weeks lost in the fog that is September.  You know, the time of year when my luxurious life of long days in the sun come to a screeching halt and turn into long days in the classroom doing what essentially equates to herding cats.  Being a kindergarten teacher in September is a lot like giving birth.  If anyone remembered how painful it is, no one would ever do it again.  The poor babies are exhausted and have no clue which way is up.  And many of them haven't been in school before.  So EVERYTHING is new.  And there are 22 of them.  And 13 of them are boys.  For six and a half hours, five days a week.  Herding cats actually sounds like a vacation!  But October is coming.  And most of the time things settle into a routine by then.  Until then, I might need a little bit of reminding that I love my job.

But enough about that, here's the real excitement.

For 81 months, I have been in charge of the care of small humans virtually 24/7.  Sure I get away for dinners (and even a trip to Florida!) with my friends now and then but for all intents and purposes, I have had very little "me" time.  My kids do plenty of things without me, but it rarely ends in me having the freedom to do whatever I please.  When they are at school, I am also at school.  With kids.  When they are at swimming/gymnastics/baseball, I am contractually obligated to stay
and watch.  (Just kidding.  Well, kind of.  I am obligated to stay and watch, but I do actually like to watch...unless it is cold/rainy at baseball.)  So you can imagine my surprise when I took them a new program at church and was told that I could pick them up when it was over.  What?  I have 75 minutes a week in which I can do whatever I want?  You better believe I hightailed it out of there before anyone could ask me to change their mind.


So I am sure you are dying to know what I have been doing.  Let me tell you.  I know how to celebrate.  The first week, I decided to go for a run.  The sun was shining and at the time I thought that maybe Wednesdays could be my running day.  Unfortunately, the next week  it was cold.  And that plan went out the window. 

The second week is when things got really good.  I used my free time to....wait for it....run errands.  Have you ever done errands with kids in tow?  Ridiculous.  It usually goes a little something like this:

Once I finally get everyone out of the house and into the car, one of them usually waits until we are at least a mile down the road to announce that they "forgot" their shoes.  U-Turn!  When we arrive at our destination it takes an unbelievable amount of time for them to unbuckle and pile out of the car, hopefully without denting the car next to us with the door.  Then we haggle about who will hold which hand, all the while trying to avoid mud puddles and moving vehicles.  

By the time we enter the store I am wondering what exactly it was that we couldn't live without because no amount of food seems worth all this.  But inside is where the real fun begins.  When the kids were babies, once I got both of them in the cart, there was no room for anything else.  And who invented those ridiculous car carts?  You know, the tiny cart with the huge car on the front?  I can't even steer that thing!  Once I told my kids that the store people said I couldn't drive it anymore because I had had too many accidents.  They never even questioned it.  But now that they can't go in the cart, it means they have to walk.  And for some reason, every other kid in the store can walk near their parent and stay out of the way of oncoming carts but mine are like little drunks bobbing and weaving through the aisles.  By the time we leave the store I have run them both over a number of times. Because they are six and they should be able to walk in a straight line.  And the other customers are way too nice.  And then it is reversing through the parking lot/car door/car seat process.  Lord help us if we have to go to more than one store in a day.

But last Wednesday I went to three (THREE!!!!) stores all by myself.  And no one dodged in front of my cart...or almost tipped it over.  And it only took me minutes at each stop.  It was glorious! 

Today for my alone time, I came back to the house and ate some cookies.  And no one asked for one.  I think Wednesday is going to become my favorite day!