School Holidays – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Like so many mommies all across the nation, I’m frantically trying to finish projects and take care of bidness while I still have my weekday freedom from 8am-3pm. Summer vacation is upon us and I’m chaffed that it’s already here—I’m NOT READY! Forget educating our children, school is an important necessity for our mental state as mothers. And because my kids had tons of “no school” days this year, I’m already riding the lunatic fringe. I love my kids more than anything in the world, but you just can’t peacefully co-exist with the little ones when they are behaving like barbarians.

The worst bout was when we had a winter storm that rivaled the Ice Age and my kids were home for one week straight. By Friday I was looking for any blunt object I could find to pound into my head.  First of all, the weather was horrific.  Not Norman Rockwell snowy days, but thick sheets of ice and sleet that were treacherous. Unless you had a wooly mammoth to ride—you were imprisoned at home….with your kids…and their friends…  and their friends’ friends. The kids were in and out but it was so cold they were mostly in.  The snow suits, boots and socks piled up at my front door made my house smell like a rank nasty locker room.  Mommies across Dallas were on their phones having the same conversations:

Mom #1: What are you doing?

Mom #2: Yelling at my kids and making hot chocolate-you?

Mom #1: Same.  I can’t get my car out of the driveway. I’m losing my mind

Mom #2: Yep.  And we have no food.  I just ate some gummy bears and cream cheese

Mom #1: Wanna’ come over and have a glass of wine later?

Mom #2: You bet! Can I come now?  I’ll bring the….oh My God….shit… gotta’ run—the dog is choking on Legos…….

Man oh man that week was rough.  After a couple days, a glass or two of vino wasn’t even helping so I contemplated setting up a meth lab in my kitchen.  I’d seen it on an episode of Cops before and it didn’t look that difficult……plus it would give the kids something to do…o.k….that’s not true…but it sounds funny…..

Luckily, we all survived that week and had only minor casualties to report. And by the following Monday morning we were back on track and back at school.  But the amount of school days my kids missed this year was ridiculous.  I felt like writing the school and asking for some money back…p.s.  I’m not home-schooling! 

After next Friday, June 3^rd, I will find myself with two little sidekicks until school begins again in the fall.  As mommies, we do look forward to summer family fun, vacations, swimming, and all that great stuff.  But we are realists, too.  When it all gets to be too much, you will find us on the phone with each other, always opening with the same question, “Can my kids come play at your house today?”