Pumpkin spice latte is back!
I am not ashamed to admit that every year I look forward to the arrival of fall because of this.
I have been waiting for fall... partly because of this.
You have heard this a million and one times, I am sure. But fall really is my favorite season.
Despite the annoying process of reorganizing my clothes and shoes according to the change in season. This year I think I am going to be honest with myself and get rid of the pile of clothes that I have mentally labeled as “Keep for when I am back to my pre-kid weight”. If it has not happened yet after thirteen years, it probably ain’t gonna happen.
I went to bed at almost 4 am and when I woke up at 8, I still had Amy Winehouse on my mind. Her voice is haunting.
I need to make a confession: (Because it is funny in a tragic, pathetic kind of way. And also because I believe somewhere out there, someone is going to read this and go, “O.M.G. I thought I was the only one that did that! I can now finally stop feeling guilty!”. Or so I hope. You are welcome. And feel free to pretend so I feel better about the whole thing and can finally stop feeling guilty. Thank You!)
Last Wednesday, I took my usual 6:30 train home and when I got into my car and started driving towards the TKD school to pick up Mr. Monk, it was already 7:15. I had been listening to, yes, sorry, here she is again, Amy Winehouse on repeat, when the screen on my phone flashed, indicating an incoming call. It was not a number that I knew so I decided to ignore it. I mean, who actually calls people now, right?
Here is the thing: whenever I listen to music, I get lost in it. I really really do. That’s probably the point of good music to begin with, and probably happens to everybody so yeah you are probably smirking. But I mean I forget everybody else. Including my kids. I forget that I am a mother. A wife. A cog in the machine. I am just me. Enveloped in the sound and the beat. Me alone with myself. In my mind, I am doing all sorts of interpretive dance to the music, often in a way BEFORE incongruity is detected.
When the phone “rang” (how many phones nowadays that still actually ring?) for the third time, I decided to answer it.
“Mom?”
“Who’s this?” I actually forgot that I have a kid.
“It’s me.”
“Who?”
“Name withheld for protection.”
Oh, right. My son. My youngest child.
Oh shit. Something must have happened since TKD did not end till 7:30. Any time you get a phone call from your child, there is trouble at hand. They don’t really call you just to find out how you are doing until they become parents themselves.
“Where are you?! What happened?!”
“I am at gymnastics.”
At this moment I became completely disoriented because my oldest is the one that has gymnastics practices. Did I get my children mixed up? What’s happening to me?
“Why are you at gymnastics?” I was genuinely confused.
“You told me to come find brother if you don’t show up at the choir practice…”
I had completely forgotten that he had choir practice every Wednesday and I was supposed to pick him up at 6:45 pm. At 6:45 pm, I was still on the train! Just like that. Forgot about my child. A black hole opened up in my memory and he fell through it.
The feeling that you have in your gut when you suddenly realize you have forgot to pick up your child from somewhere?
Last Monday, I was getting off of work at 4pm when my daughter called from school. No one had picked her up. “The day care didnt come?”
“uhhh…no.”
No, they had been waiting for about 15 minutes in the front of the school, she had gone to the Life Skills room. My husband works Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, so he’s asleep on Mondays when they get out and on his way to work on Fridays, so they ride buses to the day care where I pick them up around 4:30. It’s just a complicated way of shuffling them until I’m available from work. I ended up picking them both up and talking to the Special Ed aide and the day care driver.
This time it wasn’t my fault. My daughter totally confused everyone about the schedule and then went all hysterical on them. Next time, it could totally be me.
No matter how many times I “forget” to pick my kids up, they just use their sense of smell and feral animal instincts to find their way home.
Also, I’ve been known to listen to music non stop for hours on a roadtrip even forgetting where I am going and ending up hopelessly lost after realizing I’ve been daydreaming.
dufmanno recently posted…Screw You Sunflower
So, at the beginning of the post, I was all “YUM! I love the pumpkin spice!!”
…by the end of teh post I was all “Anxiety!, anxiety!, anxiety! I can’t even remember my own schedule half the time!”
🙂 A good mother tells their kid “The back-up plan”, though. I must remember that one!
Wildology recently posted…Stress of Change: his versus mine
Not to brag, but I haven’t left my kid anywhere yet. Not even once. *sigh*
Elly Lou recently posted…This Week’s Tweets
This is EXACTLY why I don’t have kids!
Kathy
kathy recently posted…A Sustainable Table Transformation: Preserving the Planet for Tomorrow’s Artists
i had once forgot to pick up not my kid, but my best friend’s kid…. At the end there was no big deal, but still I felt like shit…
l think she is just polite now, but deep down I am sure she hates me!
BTW: why the hell don’t we have Starbucks in Norway… Damn!
vanilla north recently posted…voluntary torture
I haven’t COMPLETELY forgotten to pick my kids up at school, but I have had more than one occasion where I look at the clock, see that I have 45 minutes and then start in on something (oh, say, I book and a cup of tea) and look at the clock and I’m already 10 minutes late for pickup.
*facepalm*
You are not alone…
And I LURVE pumpkin spice lattes, I do believe they – along with the scrummy pumpkin scones – were responsible for a fair part of the weight gain with my #1 child. Unfortunately, we’re living in the UK at the mo’, and they do NOT do pumpkin spice.
Oh, the cruelty…
THIS! This is exactly one of the reasons I am afraid to have kids. Just tonight I forgot my purse at a friend’s house. The worst thing about that? She was ‘not surprised’…
Guilt serves no other purpose than to drain you from energy you can very well use somewhere else, so don’t bother with it too much. All’s well that ends well!
Lies recently posted…The joys and quirks of language (or not)
And of course, it would happen to Monk. Think he’ll bring this up later? 😉 Prepare yourself now! 🙂
Andrea recently posted…Speechless Yet Again
Don’t feel guilty, mama! Music does make us forget — that’s why we keep listening to it. I still love your “Incongruity Detected”! Because I seem to live in the fantasy world where I ignore the incongruity and keep on with my awful talent-lacking self.
Andrea recently posted…Speechless Yet Again
I love you for getting obsessed. I love you for loving Amy Winehouse. I love you for not writing one of those self-congratulatory blogs where you tell everybody else what they should do and offer yourself up as an example. Okay, I did that twice, but now I’m embarrassed by it.
Nance recently posted…The Scorpion And The Frog
I used to be a waitress at a Howard Johnson’s right off a busy exit of Interstate 80. Most of our customers were travelers from the highway. MANY of them left a kid in the Ho Jo’s bathroom and pulled the big RV or the mini-van right onto the highway and were miles up the road before they realized they were missing a kid. It was at least a weekly occurrence.
I don’t think you have anything to feel guilty about.
So far I haven’t forgotten to pick Maya up from anything but my husband? He has cornered the market on that! I’m sure my turn isn’t too far away though.
You must have been terrified! You poor thing – you have a lot going on, don’t you?
Ameena recently posted…four letter words
I can’t say that have had the same experience myself. However, I only attribute that to the fact that there are no kids on the scene yet. I’m sure I’ll forget all kinds of stuff about them (ie: names, appointments, locations, feeding times, etc) once we do have them & Mrs. C leaves me in charge of their well being for any reason.
Vinny C recently posted…Just Where Have You Been This Week? – Having Cake Then Ending Up At The Dentist’s.
Fall is my favorite too….let’s both hope that the snap of the crisp air will restore some memory cells in our silly little heads. How about we start fresh and blame our forgetfulness on summer.
jotter girl recently posted…30 Second Story….Where’s the Chocolate Factory?
Oh my god, if I had children I am sure they would have been long lost to me while I went on about my life enjoyimg my wine and candlelit dinners, because I’m ditzy and selfish.
XOXO
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