Monday, Monday

Gee, only four more days until Spring Break. The kids think they are happy school's going to be out for a week, but they've got nothing on me. I really need to get away for awhile. Today lived up to it's Monday reputation in so many ways.

I returned home from the gym this morning to find SwimChick in tears. "Why are you crying?" I asked, a seemingly logical question in my mind. "I don't know!" she sobbed, "Have you seen my Croc's? I can't find them." Of course, lost shoes are clearly a reason for a complete breakdown. I suggested she look in my car since she changed clothes there on the way to her dance class yesterday. The fact that I had asked everyone to clear out all their junk on Sunday night in no way guaranteed that wasn't where they were. She returned, newly-found Croc's adorning her feet. But the sobbing didn't stop. She continued to sniffle all the way to school. I took her this morning because she had done something weird to her cello and needed the orchestra teacher to take a look. One cannot transport a cello on the school bus. It's actually a rule. I was proud that we made it to the parking lot by 7:18 a.m. because that meant I was ahead of the traffic pattern and would make it to work on time. Anyone ever hear that pride goeth before the fall? SwimChick stepped out of the car, picked up her cello, said, "I forgot my backpack" and promptly burst into tears again. While I know that the logical consequence would have been to let her deal with the issues that caused for her at school today, I instead told her to get in the car, and we made the 20 minute round trip to pick up her stuff and return her to school. I was officially late to work.

Work today was a series of meetings and deadlines. Nothing terrible, nothing particularly good. I hate when I'm out of the office so much for meetings. Plus our evaluations are due tomorrow. A few years ago the central administration promised to reduce the number of meetings we have right around major deadlines. So today I had a three-hour central office meeting and tomorrow I have one that will likely last two hours. Hmmm.....

Speaking of meetings, I had a Junior League one tonight. I got home and learned that SwimChick had continued with her bad attitude, causing Adventure Guy to refuse to take the kids out for dinner like he had planned. This put him in a bad mood, or rather reinforced the one he's been in the last couple of days. I hate it when we get in this cycle. He's annoyed with SwimChick; I translate that as his being mad at me for being gone tonight; he gets mad that I think he's mad at me. Ugh! I just want things to calm down some.

And, I'll admit it. My birthday is coming up, and I'm not very happy about it. I'll be 39 (really), and that seems entirely too close to 40. I've never really been bothered by birthdays or getting older, but I can tell that 40 is going to get to me. I'm also in that trap of not really wanting anyone to make a big deal of my birthday but being a bit disappointed that it's such a non-issue. Adventure Guy and I are going out with my best friend (whose birthday is today) and her husband on Friday to celebrate. I just hope we're both a little happier by then.