Eye Opening Revelations

Today Josh had track and field competition. I love the end of the school year for things like this. The kids work so hard for months on end, and it's nice that they can have fun days the last week or two. Being the good mom that I am, I went to watch. I realized a lot of things about myself while I was there.


1. My eyes aren't what they used to be. I looked for an hour and couldn't find Josh anywhere. I couldn't exactly make out faces down on the track so I focused on watching the runners. I'd know my boy's running style anywhere. I think. But I didn't see him.

2. I am a recluse. I have a few good friends that I love to hang with, but none of them have kids that attend in my district. While I knew a good number of parents there, I chose to sit by myself and enjoy the solitude.

3. Apparently I'm not that well liked. While all the moms that I know seemed to sit in a bunch, and they were all within shouting distance of my own secluded spot, not a one of them waved hello. Strangely, I'm good with this. That probably makes me a snobby recluse.

4. While I may not be a big hit with the parents, the school staff does seem to like me. This is good. I popped into the office to talk to the principal for a minute and he, the secretary and I chatted for a while. Two teachers passing by the office felt the need to pop in and say hello to me. It's good to know that I'm not THAT parent, and that my kids aren't THOSE kids.

5. I am cheap and forgetful. The high schoolers were selling baked goods and snow cones and I completely forgot to send money for Josh. While there, I was reminded of this because of all the kids walking around with snow cones. This did not inspire me to shell out cash for my own son. Partly because I hadn't found him, and partly because I didn't have cash on hand. I'd forgotten to stop at the ATM.

6. I have a hard time sitting and doing nothing. I brought along the mail, and read through a 29 page Micah-related benefits form while I was there. (Don't worry, I watched the runners, too. I can multi-task with the best of them.) When I was done reading, I was incredibly antsy. I normally carry a book for that very reason.

7. I procrastinate too much. Josh told me that the games started at 8:30, and would last most of the day. I chose to get a wee bit of sewing done before I left because I'm running very, very close to a looming deadline and still have a lot of work to do. I was an hour late, but in the general scheme of things, it wasn't very late at all. Josh ran the first two races, at 8:30, and I missed him. I got Mother of the Year for that one. (I did find Josh after an hour, and he clued me in about the missed races.)

Who knew you could learn so much about yourself while attending a school event for your kid? Luke has a track meet tomorrow. I'm curious what I'll find out about myself then. Hopefully it'll be the fact that I can learn from my mistakes and show up on time to see my kid participate.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like you! I would have sat next to you, and I even would have chatted with you. I would also have gone through my mail at the same time - because I too understand the need to multi-task. (My current motto is multi-task or die.)

"They" say that our children bring out the best in us - I guess maybe the opposite it true as well!

Suburban Correspondent said...

You need to take up knitting or crocheting or even portable quilting. I cannot survive any sort of school event without bringing along a project to do.

Michelle said...

Oh I'm with you on the sitting still. It's not fun, is it? You need to geta Kindle so you can carry books with you everywhere ;)

Good luck with tomorrow's track meet!

Flea said...

Ugh. I hate kids' sporting events. I'd miss them all if I could. I also carry books and don't talk to anyone if they leave me be.

KG said...

Dude - I love that you missed your kid's events. At least you didn't say something like "I just saw you run - awesome job!" He would have busted you.

Burgh Baby said...

I do my best to not talk to people at stuff like that. I tend to think evil snarky stuff, and always worry that it will fall out of my mouth, only to land in the lap of the kid who is wearing his pants too high's mom. Can't have that.

Viv said...

Yesterday, I was 15 minutes late to my son's class award ceremony. I missed his award presentation. I felt terrible. What did I learn? Not much. Today I was 15 minutes late for my daughter's class play, I did get to see her in action...but only because she was the letter 'X'

Krista said...

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I always feel obliged to make everyone feel comfortable, so I would have been the pesky mom distracting you. Actually, we would have laughed a lot and forgot all about the painful event, and probably kicked off the field for making too much noise.

imbeingheldhostage said...

Well I would've waved. and shouted to you. and then come over to invade your solitude. Aren't you glad I'm 5000 miles away?