Making Up for Lost Time

So we are on day three of spring break.  The important thing about winter, spring and summer breaks for a person like me (obsessive-compulsive, workaholic) is that if I take the time to remember the purpose of a "break,"  I can use that time to create enough memories with my kiddos to help them forgive me for the limited portions they often get the rest of our lives together.  I like to work.  I am not just some sacrificing, do-gooder who works in service to others even if I don't want to.  I like it.  I like to be busy, I like to have goals.  Actually, I am impossible to get along with in 2, maybe 3, situations in life: first, when I am so busy, I don't feel like I am being success or helpful in anything I am doing AND when I don't have a somewhat complicated and meaningful objective to keep my mind occupied.  My son did not come by his ADHD by accident.  I passionately love my kids, but over the years I have lost some of my ability to effectively prioritize.  I want to do it all; I want to do it all now, and I want to do it all well.  Just for the record, moms, we can not do it ALL well.  That is a myth.  I can't truly parent and enjoy my kids on spring break with a poetry methods book in my hand, for example.

So in order to put parenting on that list of "doing it well,"  I do try to make the breaks filled with "them" time.  Since I am very much an outdoor person,  the memory-making was on short supply with the overflow of an excessive winter.  It has been chilly and rainy for the last 4 days.  In spite of this, we could put off our adventures no longer. We had no plans, we were just certain that they would not involve me working or Sam playing video games.   Sam and I collected Emily from her friend's (Victoria's) house.  The day just about stalled out there because things got rowdy while I was visiting with Victoria's mom.  When I finally got them to the front door, Sam's face was red and his neck was scratched.  Emily was crying and holding an area near her left eye. This is a long story that involves the breaking of a HUGE rule in our house....don't put your hand's on people in anger.  So as I calmly (yes, I was calm) walked them through the choices (while trying to drive) they made and how they made the decisions to put their hands on faces and throats,  they cried profusely and apologized to each other and to me.  I am not naive...just for the record, but I do think they realized they were acting like heathens and I didn't want to go home to perform the semi-required ritualistic removal of fun.

At this point it was still cold,  but we had been planning to visit the community center in our new neighborhood.  We went in an played two hours of Foosball and ping pong.  I was gracious in my winnings and I even gave them a sporting chance.  After two hours of indoor table sports, one works up a thirst.  We went two doors down to an old-fashioned soda fountain in a drug store (I am not making this up). The gentleman there made me an old-fashioned diet cherry coke.  Em had a rootbeer float.  Sam had something green with a name that said something about being green and had a very strong lime flavor.  Then something AMAZING happened, as the gentleman was telling us about the drug store's large assortment of urology supplies, THE SUN CAME OUT!  It also seemed like it warmed up about 10 degrees, but that might of just been the warming of our hearts.  We went home, pumped up our bike tires and explored the new bike trails around our house. May I say at this point, the trails in KC are a gift.  Eventually, we we got home. Mike/Dad was there when we arrived.  He was a little miffed that I took the kids on some adventures on which he intended to be the first to take them, but he forgave me.  Emily and Mike helped me clean leaves out the the flower beds for about 20 minutes.  At about 6pm, they left to go back to the community center.  I cleaned out the beds for another two hours, and as I sit here at 8:31, I have not worked on teaching, coaching, or sponsoring anything for middle schoolers all day.   I am better for it, and I think Sam and Em are too.