Not a Great Day

Today was one of those days. I would be remiss if I quantified it as a "bad" day because, in light of real tragedy and suffering, this doesn't even make the ranks. But, I sure didn't have a great day.

I awoke to a 5am mediocre workout. Lately, I have been waking up with hefty to-do lists and since I am totally electronic, I stubbornly refuse to write anything down on paper and mentally review the list that is hidden on my phone somewhere. So, I pretty much repeatedly "task" things in my head.

Even though I had an early start, my actual departure time from my home after the other usual morning routine was MUCH later than planned. So, I mentally re-arranged things and skipped to the 'urgent' needs of my kids. Grace is leaving for Arizona tomorrow so, she needed a few things at Ulta. Noah was out early because of finals so, he reluctantly joined us.

Apparently I took toddlers disguised as teenagers shopping. Picture a girly girl in Ulta (who recently lost a make-up bag...grrr) and a hulking pubescent 15 year old discovering the novelty of round-brushes and you can see my fun. After about 30 aimless minutes and many mindless 'no, we don't need that', and 'oh, ok's' we all hit a breaking point. And, here is why we broke:

I am pretty convinced I was lost somewhere in the thoughts and tangents of my mind at this point. And, in my head was: I did not get the things done that I should have, but it's ok because I had a great lunch with my daughter and I am shopping with my kids. Earlier, I reassured Jeremy that she did not technically lose $100 worth of makeup, it was really only $40. But, as I am eyeing that shopping basket she is holding I am seeing a Benjamin. Also, as cool as it is having my son invite himself to shop with us; he is now clipping my heels and twirling a round brush in his hair. And then, the kids attacked each other. So, I paid, walked out to the car and fell over the edge.

It was one of those moments where I am definitely right on so many levels but, completely wrong in my delivery. And, at the ripe old age of 36, I overly dramatized it...shocker. As if the drama wasn't enough, I belabored the issue. Yes, I nagged....and nagged. And, lectured.

Next, I was relegated to drive Noah to a lacrosse practice about 30 minutes away. Normally, Jeremy transports to these practices but, he was busy and I figured I would shop somewhere nearby or nap in the car. As Noah slept in the car, my mind went into a tailspin. I re-hashed my less than stellar attempt to put my kids in their place and that silly 'to-do' list haunted me. It seems trivial when I look back at it now but, I was feeling a bit funky as I unknowingly drove to the WRONG practice location.

Yes, my son was sleeping and I never drive. He woke up and had a minor flip-out. Thankfully, I can google and I have a NAV system in my car so we were quickly on track and made it to the field on time. Except...there was no practice. As I sat in the car and defended my poor parenting performance to my husband on the phone, my son was questioning me via text from down on the field. He couldn't find his team. I consulted the master schedule and realized I was off a day (more on this in a second) and decided to not act as annoyed as I really was and laughed it all off. Noah and I went to 7-11 for a Slurpee and at this point, I am feeling mildly victorious and all was well even as we battled the I-15 traffic.

I arrived home to a flurry of studying for finals, packing for AZ and a partial celebration of Father's Day. It will be the first Father's Day that we are not all together so, we attempted to recognize it in some way. For the most part, the day was averaging a 'C' and my eyeballs only hurt a little bit. LOL.

Then, a comment on my Facebook post lamenting my pointless drive alerted me to the fact that we had missed practice. The practice time had been moved and as I broke out in a cold sweat, I searched my inbox. Sadly, I overlooked an e-mail and was the only one to blame for this faux pas. I really can't convey how seriously my son takes these things but, I KNEW he would be upset when he found out. He was at youth group (the attendance of which was considered a blessing since 'there was no practice'...LOL) and I am a confessor so, I watched the clock for the better part of an hour waiting for him to come home.

He was obviously a little angered at first but, in the end we all chalked it up to an honest mistake. After the kids were in bed, and I de-briefed the day with Jeremy, he looked at me and said, 'so, not a great day for you then?' I seriously had to laugh out loud and tell you about it.