There are some days when being a parent is a breeze. My kids are past the age of needing to be fed, dressed and strapped in to car seats. An average school day may involve reminding them how many minutes left until they need to hop in the car. Sometimes there's a last minute "Have you got your lunch?" "Don't forget to get the bus home today" etc. Generally they are organised kids and things run smoothly. Every week is busy before it begins with a full calendar of school, work, sports and music after school activities. Then you add in the extra things that crop up like dental appointments, car services etc and before you know a normal busy day becomes a logistical nightmare.
Let me tell you about a recent busy day... A day that began with school drop off at 8.30am and would't end until about 9pm due to a school P+F meeting. In between were a car service, exam supervising at the girls high school, getting Sian to and from Newcastle Uni for her fortnightly maths session from 4-6pm and trying to work out what to volunteer for at that nights Spring Fair fundraiser meeting that would be helpful but would not suck the last bit of energy remaining in my poor brain.
It started out at 7.45am with getting the kids to school. The girls went with Byron, no problems there. Gareth and I were running a few minutes late when the text came in from a-daughter-who-shall-not-be-named. It was about a big assignment she had finished and needed to be handed in the following day. Except it
didn't. It needed to be in by the end of this school day or she would automatically be deducted a significant percentage. Could I get it to her? Oh, it wasn't printed yet. And our home computer was out of ink.
Oh and it needed to be handed in in a document display folder. Which we didn't have... Could I buy one for her and she would tell me the order of the numerous pages so that I could fill all the pages of the display folder for her... before dropping it in to the school office...?
I felt the weight of a busy day pushing down on my shoulders. It felt like it wanted to crush me before it began. I mentally tried to work out how and where I could get the document printed? And what non-existent time slot I could use to actually deliver it? The headache was just a low throb throb in my left temple. Enough to tell me that it was there and looking forward to meeting me properly at some point later in the day. I was grumpy and frazzled. Not helped by the fact that it was a fast day and my stomach was growling like it hadn't been fed in months rather that the couple of hours since breakfast. A day where a snickers bar and a bag of salty chips would have been well justified in my pre-fasting mentality but were out of the question according to my strong resolve.
Lets fast forward through the crazy morning, the getting to the high school exam hall by the skin of my teeth, the driving through heavy traffic to an office I could print the document in, the searching through three stores to find a document display folder and finally the long drive back to the High School. That's when the headache stepped up a notch and the sky turned an ominous shade of black. The lightning crackled, the thunder boomed, the rain came down so fast that the windscreen wipers on full speed could barely give me minimal visibility.
And that's when you came on the radio Katy Perry. Singing your chirpy song. The song that the radio host said was all about love and in her opinion summed up the love between a mother and her daughter...
The song that seemed to speak just to me. As though I was the only person alive that was listening to it. I'd listened to it before but not really heard the lyrics. I heard them that day Katy.
"Come as you are to me
Don't need apology
Know that you are worthy
I'll take your bad days with your good
Walk through the storm I would
I do it all because I love you, I love you"
Well technically Katy I'm driving through the storm but otherwise you are pretty accurate. This isn't one of the better days but yes, I love her. And that lump in my throat? It's now become a few tears trickling down my cheeks. Luckily in this crazy rain no-one can see into my car window and although cars wait left and right of me at the traffic lights I feel safe and protected by the blurry rain dashed windows and the boom of more thunder around me.
"Unconditional, unconditionally
I will love you unconditionally"
Fair point Katy, I'm sorry I sort of lost sight of that this morning.
I pulled in to the school just minutes before the end of day bell rang. Text my daughter to say "meet me at the office". I slid sheet after sheet of a really top quality assignment into the clear pages of the newly bought folder and saw her come around the corner, a sheepish grin on her face as her eyes scanned my face to read just how much trouble she was in. I must have smiled because she broke into a big grin and gave me the biggest squeeze hug that she had given me in a long time AND we were in a public place! Unheard of!
"Thanks mum" as she ran back to the staff room assignment clutched tight in her hand knowing she would get it submitted just in time. The receptionist looked up and smiled as I turned to the door to the car park. "She owes you a big thank-you"
I smiled back but in my head I said to Katy...
"Don't need apology"
