A More Pleasing Theory
Back to school night tonight. Got my parent's letter all ready to go although I don't know if it got approval from the principal yet. I feel like a child waiting for a grade on my first paper. Today has been crazy and I have been incredibly moody - a deadly combination.
I was talking with another working mom in Supergerky's class this morning and we were discussing how we need to get more done by 8am then most people get done in a week. For instance, this morning, I got up, showered, dressed, groomed etc., made lunches for everyone, got 2 children dressed (a miracle in and of itself), called my mother to find out if my father was allergic to the pear/jello/cranberry thing I was making to bring to her house for dinner tomorrow (which incidentally I was making while talking to her), packed food for the day for everyone, found the information on the Back to school night that was lost in a pile of crap on my table, and did a load of laundry. Before 8am. ANYWAY, when I was talking to her about being the class mom I said that it was ironic that it was a working mom that stepped forward to it when no other mom did. She said it wasn't compensating, it was that we, out of necessity, have learned the fine art of balancing and time management. I like that theory much better. She said that she knows many stay-at-home moms that put their kids into afternoon kindergarten because they like to have a nice slow relaxing morning and by the time they get up and dressed and motivated, it's already mid-morning. That is not an option for me. That makes sense. I like that.
Balance seems to be the word of the week for me. Yesterday I was trying to explain to a five year old what balance meant. He was saying that he always wanted to do fun things - all the time. I had my hands up in front of me, scale like and had just put all the fun things on one side... before I had a chance to balance them with the not-so-fun things that we all have to do every now and then so that we CAN do the fun things, the doorbell rang and I lost him to a grinning, silly 5 year old boy who wanted to chase the dog around and play on the swing. So to him, all fun things go in one hand and the other hand gets to hang out there with no real purpose. To my husband, balance seems to be work in one hand, and other hand tied behind his back. Regarding Back to School night, he told me "I'll see what I can do but I don't know if I'll be able to get out" I asked him "do you have something going on? A meeting or something?" "No. I just don't know what the day will look like." To me it looks like you have Back to School night at 7:30 this evening at your son's school. But he'll see if can make it. Men.
Then there is the work saga - the what do we get the boss, who has scads of money and doesn't need us to buy her a thing, but who is incredibly generous with all of us saga. My colleagues want to spend something akin to the GNP of a small country to give this woman something that she absolutely does not need and when I said I was on a budget here they said well then, you can do something on your own. So I am the only shmo that will be left off the card and that feels like crap. I am thinking of doing something passive aggressive like getting a card for her and saying that I felt terrible that the group left me out of the gift, but that I knew that she would appreciate a personal sentiment from us, something that money couldn't buy, much more because that's the type of person she is - not materialistic, generous, etc. etc. I tried to say something to my colleague about it too, but she said that it wasn't fair of me to tell them they couldn't spend that much if that's what they wanted to do. They could take second mortgages on their houses for all I care, but heck, I have children to support!
They don't. It just felt, well, wrong. Especially since this woman can afford to treat herself to any materialistic thing her heart desires - and does. Ok, getting angry again, moving on. Do I sound bitter?
I did have two notable moments today when my heart felt light and I was actually happy. First, when I dropped SuperGerky off at school this morning one of his little classmates called out to him and waited to walk with him. Then another came up behind them and the three became a cluster. A fourth boy came to join the group and I said "looks like the gang's all here." My boy looked at me, beaming, and said "yep, the gang's all here" and was so thrilled to be part of the gang and to have this whole group of new friends and I thought my heart would burst out of my chest. I wanted to hug each of these little boys and thank them for being friends with my boy - for not making him an outcast. More on that another time.
The second notable moment was when I came back from the gym, someone here at work, an acquaintance really, left a CD for me of the soundtrack from Grey's anatomy. She knew I liked the show and she is excited about the premiere so she went to the trouble of making the CD for me and left it with a note saying "we'll chat tomorrow!". A small gesture. But very touching.
Season premiere of Grey's Anatomy tonight. At least there is that to look forward to.
I was talking with another working mom in Supergerky's class this morning and we were discussing how we need to get more done by 8am then most people get done in a week. For instance, this morning, I got up, showered, dressed, groomed etc., made lunches for everyone, got 2 children dressed (a miracle in and of itself), called my mother to find out if my father was allergic to the pear/jello/cranberry thing I was making to bring to her house for dinner tomorrow (which incidentally I was making while talking to her), packed food for the day for everyone, found the information on the Back to school night that was lost in a pile of crap on my table, and did a load of laundry. Before 8am. ANYWAY, when I was talking to her about being the class mom I said that it was ironic that it was a working mom that stepped forward to it when no other mom did. She said it wasn't compensating, it was that we, out of necessity, have learned the fine art of balancing and time management. I like that theory much better. She said that she knows many stay-at-home moms that put their kids into afternoon kindergarten because they like to have a nice slow relaxing morning and by the time they get up and dressed and motivated, it's already mid-morning. That is not an option for me. That makes sense. I like that.
Balance seems to be the word of the week for me. Yesterday I was trying to explain to a five year old what balance meant. He was saying that he always wanted to do fun things - all the time. I had my hands up in front of me, scale like and had just put all the fun things on one side... before I had a chance to balance them with the not-so-fun things that we all have to do every now and then so that we CAN do the fun things, the doorbell rang and I lost him to a grinning, silly 5 year old boy who wanted to chase the dog around and play on the swing. So to him, all fun things go in one hand and the other hand gets to hang out there with no real purpose. To my husband, balance seems to be work in one hand, and other hand tied behind his back. Regarding Back to School night, he told me "I'll see what I can do but I don't know if I'll be able to get out" I asked him "do you have something going on? A meeting or something?" "No. I just don't know what the day will look like." To me it looks like you have Back to School night at 7:30 this evening at your son's school. But he'll see if can make it. Men.
Then there is the work saga - the what do we get the boss, who has scads of money and doesn't need us to buy her a thing, but who is incredibly generous with all of us saga. My colleagues want to spend something akin to the GNP of a small country to give this woman something that she absolutely does not need and when I said I was on a budget here they said well then, you can do something on your own. So I am the only shmo that will be left off the card and that feels like crap. I am thinking of doing something passive aggressive like getting a card for her and saying that I felt terrible that the group left me out of the gift, but that I knew that she would appreciate a personal sentiment from us, something that money couldn't buy, much more because that's the type of person she is - not materialistic, generous, etc. etc. I tried to say something to my colleague about it too, but she said that it wasn't fair of me to tell them they couldn't spend that much if that's what they wanted to do. They could take second mortgages on their houses for all I care, but heck, I have children to support!
They don't. It just felt, well, wrong. Especially since this woman can afford to treat herself to any materialistic thing her heart desires - and does. Ok, getting angry again, moving on. Do I sound bitter?
I did have two notable moments today when my heart felt light and I was actually happy. First, when I dropped SuperGerky off at school this morning one of his little classmates called out to him and waited to walk with him. Then another came up behind them and the three became a cluster. A fourth boy came to join the group and I said "looks like the gang's all here." My boy looked at me, beaming, and said "yep, the gang's all here" and was so thrilled to be part of the gang and to have this whole group of new friends and I thought my heart would burst out of my chest. I wanted to hug each of these little boys and thank them for being friends with my boy - for not making him an outcast. More on that another time.
The second notable moment was when I came back from the gym, someone here at work, an acquaintance really, left a CD for me of the soundtrack from Grey's anatomy. She knew I liked the show and she is excited about the premiere so she went to the trouble of making the CD for me and left it with a note saying "we'll chat tomorrow!". A small gesture. But very touching.
Season premiere of Grey's Anatomy tonight. At least there is that to look forward to.
posted by Lain | 4:24 PM
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