Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Pre-School Graduation and Bad Karma

Back to our regular scheduled program....

Friday was Seena's preschool graduation. I first learned of her "graduating" from G. When we received Seena's school pictures one of the choices were a cap/gown picture. It never occurred to me that Seena was actually graduating. I mean, this is preschool. I thought the cap/gown pictures were just for fun. It was my husband that pointed out that they were because she was graduating from preschool. Err...duh. Anyway, the actual graduation ceremony was Friday night. I was planning only to have my mom, Teen and AJ attend. I also announced to G that I was going to go to the river house afterwards. G wasn't exactly pleased but my mind was made up and we were going. His only instructions were to NOT leave a mess before I left. Ok - no problem, I didn't have any work to do on Friday so this shouldn't have been a problem. Well, nothing really ever goes as planned for me. From the moment I woke up I was behind schedule by an hour-all day. I was further thrown off when V informed me that she was going to come to the graduation too and we would all just leave for the river house together afterwards. Ok...Seena will like that, no problem. Teen also decided to have a friend come over after school which did not present a problem until Teen's friend's mother would not come to pick her up. Teen's friend was suppose to be picked up by 6pm. I could hear the poor girl yelling at her mom and finally I couldn't take anymore of it and I told her I could take her home. This was at 6:30pm. We had to be at graduation at 7:15pm. I started to get nervous as my promise to G was starting to seem less possible. See, I saved cleaning and straightening until the end. Probably not the best plan but I hate cleaning so naturally I will put it off until I absolutely have to do it. I figured I could make mad dashes around the house while my mom watched the kids. This did not happen. At 6:45pm my sister and her two kids came rolling in with trays of food from their graduation party earlier that day. The mess just continued to pile up. I'm starting to feel the anxiety of hearing G's wrath starting to swell. I choose to ignore the mess for now and we leave for graduation. Naturally, I am one of the last parents to get there so I have the worst seating ...the back. And I'm probably the shortest mom there. Seriously, no joke. So, throughout the ceremony I am climbing on chairs to take pictures with a camera that no longer wants to cooperate. And of course, right when it's time for Seena to get her "diploma" my battery dies. Thankfully I notice a parent that I'm friends with taking pictures and I asked her to click away on any Seena shots.

This is where I would have inserted said picture but I have not received it yet.

As the ceremony continued and in between my chair hopping and hot flashes - which I am sure was due to my growing anxiety over the state of mess I was going to inevitably leave the house in- my eyes began to swell with tears. At first I really didn't think preschool graduation was a big deal and almost a bit silly but it set in again, that my baby girl was growing up. She'll be in kindergarten in just a few months and then graduating high school before I know it. Her time in daycare/preschool has made a world of difference for her. Seena used to be this incredibly shy girl who would hide her face in my neck when we went to any social function. But at her graduation she stood proud and announced to all the parents that she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. Then she stood front and center when they performed their Wiggle song and dance. She was so cute and I couldn't be more proud. I could tell Seena was gleaming too.

After the ceremony and cake was over we trudged our entourage back to the cars so we could change, pack up the cars and hit the road. We get home and I immediately begin to run around the house like the Tasmanian devil trying to pick up and put away whatever I could as I whirl winded by. I didn't get too far. Between AJ pooping and chasing him around to change him, getting the girls to calm down to change and pee, and then giving instructions to Teen since she was going to be home alone it just couldn't get done. Really. Next thing I knew the cars were packed and all that was left was me. I took one last look around and realized in horror that I was leaving the kitchen sink a MESS. Now, let me just break away for a moment to explain why leaving my house a mess is a big deal. Besides the fact that G is overly obsessive of cleanliness he ALWAYS has the house clean when I come home from any sort of trip. I really don't want to take advantage of that because I know he's tired and needs the rest so I really try to do my part. Plus, I just don't want to hear it from him again.

So, back to my story. When I realized the sink was filled with dishes from dinner I yelled for Teen to come down and unload the dishwasher so I could get rid of the dishes. Teen did not want to this but I explained I could not leave the dishes in the sink or I would be in trouble with dad. She promised she would take care of the dishes and the dishwasher later that evening. I hesitated, I really did. I know Teen loves me in her own special way but I also think there's a little piece of her that gets a little pleasure of seeing me get in "trouble" with dad. But I had two car loads of impatient kids and family members so I made her promise, promise, promise that she would take care of it THAT night. I glanced around one last time and silently sent out an apology to G and to the stars above for once again leaving a mess.

Our trip to the river house was essentially uneventful except when we arrived. Presuming that karma had set it's eyes on me that evening, I left my house a mess to only arrive to a bigger mess at the river house. Due to what we assumed were bad storms, the refrigerators had lost power. It's been at least two weeks since anyone has been to the house so who knows how long the fridges were without power. And yes, there was food in them. Frozen meat in the freezer and all kinds of other food in the fridge. It was soooooo foul and the smell was beyond disgusting. On top of that, to save energy and money, my parents shut off the electricity when there is no one at the house. Therefore, the house was hot, humid and rancid with disgusting rotting food smell. I gag just thinking of it. So for the next hour and half, my sister, my mom and I spent cleaning out the fridge all while trying to keep the kids out of the kitchen, especially AJ. Mind you it is now midnight and all of the kids are up and running around. Finally, around 1:30am we declare the fridge mold free and clean and we settle off to go to bed. Was this my bad karma for leaving my house such a mess....who knows? But just in case and because I truly did feel bad, I sent a text over to G with two simple words. "I'm sorry" with hopes that my bad karma would end there.

****Sunday I came home to perfectly clean house....I love my husband*****

2 comments:

Danifred said...

So I'm dying to know... did Teen put the dishes away for you or leave you hangin'?

Juno Mom said...

She actually did but for a minute I thought she didn't. G called me the next morning and wanted to know what the "mess" was in the sink. I thought I was in the doghouse for sure but it turned it out it was just the large food trays my sister had brought. Phew!