And the Beat Marches On but sometimes without me!

It has been one of those mornings where I'm just a step or two off the game. My rhythm is not in sync with others around me.

This morning I peeked out between barely open eyelids to scan the clock and noting that it was only 0600 hrs and I don't have to get Carrie out of bed until 0700 hrs, I found a fresh position to lie in and closed my eyes. The next time I woke it was 0715hrs and I was profaning mildly. I leaped up and raced to the bedroom, shook Carrie awake and gave her the usual piggy back ride to the living room sofa telling her we had to hurry. "We're late." I included her in this statement knowing all the while it was "I" that was late. Carrie just follows my lead so I shouldn't expect her to take the blame for being tardy.

"We have to dress quickly. Here. Put these on while I go pack your lunch."

I poured the Beef A Roni's into a glass bowl and shoved it into the microwave, while fingers quickly skimmed the keypad entering cook time and I was off to the living room again. We quickly dressed. There I go with that inclusive "we". Carrie passively and while still half asleep let me drag her red uniform shirt over her head, pull on her bright red tights and slip on her tan uniform skirt. On with the Keds, laced up and tied and back to the kitchen to pour the noodles into her Thermos.

I threw everything into her new lunch box, grabbed her book bag and her hand and went racing for the car. Poor Carrie. I think she was still asleep as we headed for the bus stop.

As we turned on Palermo, I could see the big yellow bus sitting at her bus stop, door open and the children climbing aboard. I was waving my arm out the window to make sure the driver didn't leave without us. I'm sure she recognized my car from seeing it at the bus stop every morning this year but I was too stressed to think about it.

Whipping open the door, I grabbed all Carrie's belongings while she crawled across the seat and behind the steering wheel to get out of the car. We made it. A minute later and we would have been driving to school. I wasn't wearing matching pajama tops and bottoms but I was wearing flip flops and I'm sure the school has seen much worse fashion then what I would have displayed.

This is not the way I like to send Carrie off to school. She should be calm and unhurried nor harried. This was her first day to pack her lunch and I worried that she would leave her lunch on the bus, especially noting how she arrived on that bus today.

I returned home, showered and dressed and did a few chores. Today was the day I promised myself I would make it to the salon to get a hair cut.

I watched the clock. I planned on surprising Carrie at lunch today with a visit. I did get the haircut and managed to find Carrie's school and then found I was not on the "list" of parent approval to interact with her at the school. There goes that rhythm thing again. The daughter had to drive to the school and register me as one of the people that could be allowed to see Carrie and also a "contact" person should Carrie need someone to check her out of school.

While I waited on the daughter, I sat in the office and watched as each class of kindergartners marched to the lunch room. Soon Carrie's class appeared and each child smiled, paused and waved at me. Carrie eventually came by and the look of surprise was priceless. I popped open the door and told her I would meet her in the lunch room as soon as I could.

Hamburgers were on the menu. I watched again as most of the food served was scraped from the plates and into the garbage. What kid doesn't like hamburgers? I asked the children and they said "They don't taste real."

I'm still appalled at the waste. The trays today had the fake hamburger, a small bag of Doritos, pineapple chunks and chocolate pudding. The chocolate pudding was prepackaged small containers  that can be found in the grocery stores.

I watched as the children that packed their lunches finished their meal while their peers left that lunch room just  as they had appeared 30 minutes earlier. Unfed.  

Carrie ate her Beef A Roni and her chocolate pudding and drank her water. This is much more then what she would have consumed had she picked up one of those trays.

We will have a Christmas break and when she returns to school, she will again pack a lunch.

Me? It's nap time for me. I'm hoping "rythm" kicks in for the remainder of this day.