A bit of overscheduling

I knew that today was going to be a busy one. I knew about what today involved. All the running around it would require. And how much it would have me jumping in and out of my car.

I knew this. I expected this. I braced myself for it.

The unexpected came when I realized we had a scheduling conflict today. And I didn’t think I would freak out about it. But I did.

Today was the day Jesse was supposed to meet his new teacher for 2nd grade. Today was also the day that Jen had her orientation for 8th grade. Also today was the day that Jesse started gymnastics class. And, finally, we had set up a time for Jennifer to pick up her newest pet: A Water Dragon.

The conflict arose when I realized something: Jen’s orientation kinda-sorta overlapped with the beginning of Jesse’s class. Yikes!

At first, I tried to convince myself that the orientation would not last THAT long. That we would be in and out of there. No sweat. But, ya know, my life is SO unpredictable. I have a spat of bad luck this year. And NOTHING – I meant NOTHING – goes according to plan in my life. For reals!

So, yeah. I kinda freaked. I kinda panicked. I even started having trouble breathing over this.

But I had to get a really GOOD grip of myself and remind myself to do one thing: BREATHE. Just. Breathe. Take it one step at a time.

I often ask, “Why can’t there be two of me?” I was asking that a lot today. But there isn’t. There is only one of me. Like I so often remind my dear offspring. There’s only one of me! And that one of me had to figure out how to get my two kids to each of their two different destinations today!

So, I talked to Jennifer. I explained to her the situation. I suggested that we try not to take too long when we are at her orientation. Just do what we had to do. Not socialize or chit-chat with people. And just to get through it as quickly as we could. And I just HOPED that would ensure Jesse got to his class on time!

That done, I felt that there was not much else I could do about the situation. It was what it was. I had to accept that.

In the long run, Jesse was five minutes late for his class, but everything still worked out okay. And Jen’s second thing was rescheduled for tomorrow. I was just glad I didn’t have to go out YET AGAIN. So, tomorrow, she’s getting her pet lizard.

We got through today okay. I was tired, worn out, hungry and barely got much housework done. But the important stuff got taken care of and I’m glad today was not as bad as I thought it might have been.