A Very Scheduled Family

Dear Preschool Teacher,

I am very sorry that I can not stay for your impromptu meeting that you decided you desperately needed all of us parents to be at.  Unfortunately, my day is like a carefully arranged puzzle.  Please do not glare at me anymore when you say we must stay and I sneak out the back door as soon as I have the four year old signed in and settled.  I realize that to you, this meeting is the most important thing that is happening today.  I also realize that I have won the worst mother in the preschool award for basically ignoring your request that we stay for a few minutes (which always turns into at least 10 minutes).

You see, I can understand why you think that you need to tell us (once again) that we should stay in a single file line and sign our children in.  I can understand that you need to tell us (once again) that we should clean out their file folders each day.  I can understand that you need to tell us about the class policies every other week.  It appears that some of the parents can't get the basics the first time.  I know that what you say is important and that many of these parents are new to the preschool world.  It is just that I really don't have time for repetition.

I woke up at 5:00 am and jumped in the shower.  At 5:30 am, I was ready to tackle the world and gave my ten year old her first round of meds through her g-tube.  At 6:00 am, I woke her up and took her potty and then hooked her up to her feeding pump. At 6:15 am, the 4 year old came down the stairs and wanted breakfast so I gave her some french toast and juice and then emptied the dishwasher.  I straightened the living room and then woke the hubby up at 6:30 am.  At 6:45 am, I unhooked the ten year old from the pump and took her to the potty (again), then woke up the teenager for school.  At 7:15, I had dressed both girls, made all of the beds, started a load of laundry, poured my third cup of coffee in my travel cup and was out the door.  I buckled the ten year old in and made sure the 4 year old was buckled in her car seat and away we went.  We made the 45 minute drive to the 8 am appointment for speech therapy, where I shamelessly read blogs and a magazine and played on facebook.  At 9 am, we were on our way back home.  9:30 was the second round of meds and 10 am the ten year old was hooked to the pump again.  The girls did artwork and  I folded and put away 2 loads of laundry.  At 11 the ten year old was detached from the pump and I took both girls potty...and away we went again.  We repeated the get in the car routine for the third time today and then we drove to physical therapy.  At 11:30, we ran the ten year old into the therapist (literally, we ran) and then the 4 year old and I ran back to the car and made the 15 minute drive to her school.  (insert the request from you to stay for the meeting).  I shamelessly ignored you and signed her in, kissed her and ran (yep ran again) back to the car to make the 15 minute drive back to the therapy location in time for the 12:15 pick up. I made it with 1 minute to spare.  My day went on in pretty much the same manner until about 7:00 that evening...where I sat on the couch to watch tv and promptly passed out.

So you see, I had exactly 1 minute to spare for your meeting.

Now that you know all of this, can you please stop glaring at me when I ignore you.  I promise it is not because I am a horrible mother or that I don't care about your rules.  It isn't that I wouldn't stay and explain if I had time.  It is just that I don't have the extra time.  Rest assured if you actually schedule the meeting, I will make arrangements to be there.

Sincerely,
The Mommy of a Very Scheduled Family