Be Careful What You Wish For

I said I've been very busy lately, so here's the proof. Check out my calendar. I showed it to Morgan the day after my birthday while bragging at the same time about my birthday "wishes" from family and friends. I asked her, "Morgan, how do you spell "popular"?" Anyway, due to my busy schedule, there's not a lot of wiggle room. I know when my carpool days are and try to plan around them if at all possible.

That brings me to today. I was already "bummed" that I had to pick up at all since it isn't my day. But, for whatever reason, the "other" lady couldn't do it. The worst part was that neither Jordan or Morgan were coming home. I was just picking up one girl---Megan. Yesterday, when I was dropping her off, I said, "Megan, now tomorrow, you are the only one I'm picking up. Be sure to let us know if anything changes." Well, you can guess where this is headed. I'm at school today, waiting and waiting. About 10 minutes late, Megan comes out of school and says, "my mom is picking me up." I was soooo mad, I said to her, "Megan, I told you yesterday when I dropped you off to call if something changed. Now I've had to drive all the way over here." She just said, "I'm sorry."

I immediately called Steph---it went to voicemail. I hung up. Now I'm so mad, I can hardly see straight and am starting to cry---feeling really sorry for myself. I called again to leave her a ranting message. This time she picked up and I unloaded with both barrels. I did start off by saying that I knew it wasn't her fault, but that I wanted out of this f***n' carpool---even if that meant I had to drive every day. She cut me off and said in a low whisper, "mom, I'm in the middle of a training session. I only answered because I thought it was an emergency." Well, hello, it was an emergency to me! I quickly told her I'd talk to her later. Really, I don't usually interrupt her at work.

Still, I needed to rant. I called Nancy. She heard me out and gave the proper sympathy to my lot in life. Luckily, she can relate as she is called on frequently to deal with her granddaughter unexpectedly. Sadly for her, she's just beginning. Her granddaughter is only 4 with another on the way. She's going to be at this for a very long time. At least I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as Jordan continues her driver's ed. She'll get her license next December.

When I finished my call with Nancy, I called Butch and ranted to him. He didn't really say anything---sort of in the normal "Butch" style. I told him that I was giving myself a raise of my allowance to cover the additional gas expense. (I've put myself on an allowance---but that's another story). He was wise not to say anything to that. At that point, I really was just joking. My allowance is very generous---I mean after all, I'm the one who set it.

Back to the story. Anyway, Steph called later to get the whole story. Turns out, she even told the mom that I was only picking up her daughter today, so she knew too. That made it even worse that they would be so inconsiderate. In the meantime, Steph called Rob and he's "stepping up". He said that since he's not working, there's no reason he can't pick up. He also volunteered his mother. We'll see how that goes. But now it looks like I won't be driving at all. I never dreamed of this outcome---and just when I resigned myself to picking up every single day.

Now I'm sort of sad. I do enjoy the time with the girls---they tell me stuff about their lives. We have a pretty cool relationship. I gripe about having to drive the girls around to appointments, home, friends houses, and events and how it interferes with my life. I guess I really wouldn't trade all this time I've had with them over the years. I think I'm going to miss them---they're growing up so fast. It really is true---be careful what you wish for! I think I'll adjust.