I woke at 6am to find the remnants of Baker's brand new, Under Armor football gloves scattered on the floor and couch. Toby, our Boxer "puppy" ate them last night -- both of them. All that was left were the wrist cuffs. I'm not sure where the fingers and palms are... I haven't ventured into the yard to look. Of course, they may not be in the yard at all. Toby has a tendency to swallow things whole.
Cara joined me downstairs at about 6:15 for breakfast. She saw the glove pieces and gasped knowing the seriousness of Baker losing his new gloves to the dog.
When Baker came down at about 6:25, I had to tell him about the gloves. While I could see the tears welling up in his eyes, he tried hard not to show much more than the obvious disappointment. I promised to replace the gloves today. After all, they are his lucky gloves and his school colors.
At 6:30am, I began to get anxious that Brennan was not yet down for breakfast. The bus arrives at 6:40am; so I ran upstairs to see what the holdup was... Brennan was asleep! His alarm was humming a morning melody, and he was snoozing. He scrambled to get up and make it downstairs in time for a quick bite of breakfast.
Unfortunately, for Brennan, he has a tendency to misplace most everything. This morning, he could not find his shoes. With the bus passing and having not had any breakfast, we were at a loss to where his shoes could be. He ended up with flip flops on, 2 peanut butter crackers and a piece of toast in hand and climbed on the bus with tears in his eyes.
Uggghh... two of my four left boarded the yellow school bus with sadness, disappointment and tears.
Not the morning I'd hoped for...
As I sat down to my computer to catch up on emails before Eliza came down, my cell phone gave it's customized "chirping cricket" ring. It was Cara. She had left her agenda at home.
Agendas these days are BIG deals. You are required to carry your agenda at all times in middle school. It's your hall pass, your homework schedule, your key for staying out of trouble.
I'm not in the habit of bringing left items to school, but since it was only the fourth day EVER of middle school for Cara and Brennan, I wanted to help. Thinking I could catch the bus down the hill at this point, I grabbed her agenda and jumped into the car.
I don't know the middle school bus route and didn't have time to look it up. I drove in circles with Cara calling and texting me all the while. Cara, being new to the bus route, didn't know where they were exactly and didn't know the names of any of the streets... she's crying now. I'm angry.
I never found the bus. Instead, I headed to school, waited in the car rider line and met Cara in the parking lot in the pouring rain. However, she was happy. She did mention, though, that Brennan had left his book that he needed at home. Arrgh! Bringing the book to him was not an option at this point.
Arriving home at 7:30am, I was just in time to get Eliza's jelly toast and frog-in-the-hole made, go over her spelling words, unload the dishwasher and get her on the bus.
Thankfully, Eliza left happy and tearless.
Sending 3/4 of my kids to school with tears is not my idea of a good start. However, I am glad that I have 4 kids to send to school. They are my joy (even when I'm angry).
A friend of mine posted on my Face Book page when she saw that Baker's gloves had been eaten by the dog.
She commented "Ruh, Roh, Raggy!" Her comment made me smile and seemed to put things in perspective. Thanks, Charlotte.
Funny how a little Scooby Doo humor put me back in my place... I certainly could have found a Bible verse to regain perspective, but today God used a cartoon dog to make me laugh. He's funny.
In the grand scheme of things, bus chasing is a minor issue and optional. Gloves can be replaced. Agendas, shoes and books can be retrieved later, and tears will dry.
Luckily, the breakfast was portable.
