What a Day!

My poor son. To set the stage, he's been in the doghouse. We're one week into the new quarter and despite tearful promises, on Wednesday I had already received notice from his Algebra teacher that he was missing SIX assignments.

To understand this you have to know that

• he does the work
• when it's time to turn it in he often can't find it
• he has a binder
• he refuses to even tiptoe down the aisle of organizational skills

So, that's the backdrop. Yesterday morning I was going to chaperone the high school kids to a very cool National Archives field trip. I had NO.TIME.FOR.HIS.STUFF.

I had several checks that needed to get to his band teacher (citrus sales). I contemplated waiting until Friday because I know things go into his backpack and never again see the light of day. (The EPA requires a biohazard mask when delving for items possibly contained therein)

But he said he'd be really careful. I put the checks into an envelope and put the envelope on the kitchen table.

The alarm went off.

He didn't move.

He finally got up (after much ENCOURAGEMENT).

Despite the fact that he did NOT practice trumpet and did NOT take care of the bird, he was still running late.

He missed the bus.

I told him to ride his bike because I had NO.TIME.FOR.HIS.STUFF. He protested, I stood firm.

He took the bike.

I had budgeted about an hour to get ready, and catch up on some things around the house.

The phone rang.

It was son.  "Mom, somewhere near the high school I dropped the envelope."

My head exploded. After I hung up (not very nicely), I jumped into clothes (no shower), brushed my teeth quickly, and drove to the high school. I got out and looked all over and MIRACLE found the envelope intact.

I drove to the junior high (the campuses are connected but I had to move the car anyway), dropped the envelope in the teacher's box, asked them to send a note to my son that said "Envelope Found. Mom Still Loves You." They promised they would.

But now there wasn't time for me to go home and shower and still make the field trip. Sigh.

Went on the field trip, had a great time, no kids told me I stunk. Of course, they didn't get very close -- either the shower or the fact that I was an adult.

On the Metro back I called to make sure he'd gotten home from school.

"Mom, my bike got stolen."

WHAT?

"I locked it to a sign pole near the high school. When I took my lunch time to go look for the envelope I saw that the bike was still there. I didn't find the envelope."

Me: They were supposed to tell you the envelope had been found.

Him: Yeah, I got that note after lunch. After four hours of terror.

Me: I don't feel bad about that. You need to learn from this.  So tell me about the bike.

Him: When I walked over to get my bike after school, the sign had been pulled or pushed out of the ground and my bike was missing.

Sigh.