Good Morning Good Morning
I hate waking up early in the morning. If I had it my way I wouldn’t wake up until I was completely ready and then my housekeeper would tiptoe in with a tray of hot cocoa and pastries. I would then read in my bed until I was ready to face the day.
Unfortunately I don’t have a housekeeper and I seem to be the person most able, in my house, to get out of bed in the morning. Because of this most of the morning prodding tends to be my job. Let me tell you how this morning went:
I’m dreaming a bizarre dream about my neighbor taking me to a fabulous cowboy store/restaurant when I’m so rudely awakened by the sound of a nasty alarm. Slam! I hit the snooze button and I am at peace once again. 20 seconds later (ok, it’s really 9 minutes later) the nasty alarm pushes its way into my dreams again. Buzz! Slam! Peace. Buzz! Slam! Ok Kristen you really have to get up now.
I drag my lazy carcass out of bed and begin the morning wake up calls. “Honey, it’s time to get up,” I whisper. My second born rises up like a zombie crawling out of the grave.
I shuffle to my firstborn’s room and quietly say, “It’s time to get up and get ready for school.” There is no movement. I say more loudly, “Hey, it’s time to get up!” She is a little unpredictable and some days she will go back to sleep when I leave the room. Today she is a trooper and finishes her morning rituals on time.
Child number two gives me fits this morning. She can’t find her backpack, or she can’t find the right socks. She is also a little bit weepy and whiney today. It’s not a good morning for this routine because we got up a little late and to our surprise the school bus has arrived early. I send the first child off to the bus and resign myself to the fact that I’m going to have drive my second born to school once we find the elusive socks. I hate driving my kids to school because the traffic is horrible.
Luckily we find the socks quickly and as we’re getting ready to head out the door I notice that the school bus is still waiting at the stop. I start shouting to my daughter, “Hurry! Your bus is still here and you’re getting on it!”
We run over to the fence and I hoist her up. She looks at me and says, “Mom, it’s too far down. I can’t do it.”
I then scale the fence, grab her by the arms, and lower her down the other side. After she is safely down she starts to meander towards the bus. I start shouting, “Run!” I continue to scream that to her whenever she looks like she might be slowing down. She makes it on to the bus and heads off to school.
I look down at myself and realize that I’m standing on a 10 foot fence, in my pajamas, with bed head, screaming “Run!” in front of a line of commuters heading for work. I wonder what the topic of the next HOA meeting will be.
I don’t care; I’d do it all over again to get that kid on the bus!
Yikes! That’s scary! The radioblog needs to have They’re Coming to Take Me Away.
In addition to the HOA, you also need to consider the razzing your child got once she made it to the bus. On the other hand, all kids know parents are wierd, so maybe it wasn’t so bad.
Comment by Mark IV — March 7, 2006 @ 8:01 am
Awesome.
My two oldest get up at 5:20 for seminary. There’s no way I can do that–they get a ride from some other crazy parent (that I am EXTREMELY grateful for). I get up at 6:25 to go pick them up.
I drive my youngest son early to school to miss the traffic. And I go in the back way to avoid the early traffic too.
Comment by Susan M — March 7, 2006 @ 8:04 am
I’m so glad that here in AZ we have seminary during school hours. I may have to stay here during the teen years just for that.
Mark IV- I like to make sure our little suburban neighborhood doesn’t get to boring. I like to think I’m doing my part to keep things exciting around here.
Comment by Kristen J — March 7, 2006 @ 9:34 am
Hahahah, I can just see you standing out there! Good times, good times…:)
Comment by Jamie J — March 7, 2006 @ 1:07 pm
That’s an awesome image, Kristen. Thanks for the story – it made me smile.
Comment by Kaimi — March 7, 2006 @ 7:08 pm
Ah yes, the proverbial dash to school! We never lived within bus range for our daughters. Alas, each day was spent with me in my jammies in the car making sure everyone was in their respective locations on time. I even had one trying to get perfect attendance award, who would go to school sick for attendace, then call me to pick her up and take her home. Nothin beats the seminary drill, be thankful Kristen AZ has release time seminary!
Comment by chronicler — March 7, 2006 @ 10:29 pm
I remember the early morning seminary from my days as a teenager. Not so fun!
That would totally be me, in the car, in my jammies trying to get everyone to the right place. Honestly, I’d live in pajamas if I could.
Comment by Kristen J — March 8, 2006 @ 7:38 am
I want a housekeeper and cocoa and pastries, too. I want total peace and quiet till 3 in the afternoon. I want a cherry laptop I can post on in my bed. My bed with the down comforter and nice pillows and soft sheets which is in my bedroom suite with the crackling fireplace and window seats and the bathroom as big as the front room, with the perfect hot tub and heated towel rack. And a TV and DVD player and music and candles. And….
Comment by annegb — March 13, 2006 @ 8:22 am
Oooh, that sounds good. I want that too.
Comment by Kristen J — March 13, 2006 @ 10:14 am
Kristen, I was watching Brady Bunch yesterday. Alice is the bomb, she does it all. I am still figuring out what Carol Brady exactly does besides crisis intervention. If Tina and I ever hook up an Alice, we will check if she has a twin.
Comment by Tony E — March 15, 2006 @ 5:03 pm
Thanks, I needed a story to remind me that there are some good sides to homeschooling! We had a power-struggle-marathon yesterday. I *needed* an upside.
That last line about looking down and realixing you’re on the fence in your jammies serious made me think you were about to say, and then that nast alarm started going again! How surreal!
Comment by Naiah — March 15, 2006 @ 7:03 pm
Oh no Naiah. It was all too real!
Tony, Just send Alice over to my house when you need some alone time.
Comment by Kristen J — March 16, 2006 @ 9:19 am
Amen, Naiah. Well, at least until early morning seminary…
It was very funny to picture you, Kristen, as you were so composed at the bloggersnacker back in December!
Comment by Téa — March 16, 2006 @ 11:29 pm
Well, I can manage to stay composed for a few hours. Don’t count on much more than that though.
Comment by Kristen J — March 17, 2006 @ 8:18 am