Monday, June 6, 2011

Life!

Hi everyone!

I've gotten many comments wondering when the next post will be up. I'm sorry that I've left you waiting. Today's post is an informal one. I want to talk about the blog, and about what you want from it. And I want to tell you what I've been up to.

Today, I left work early to make it home in time to pick my son up from after school care. He's ten years old and I need to meet him by 6 oclock when the daycare closes. I was rushing to catch the soonest bus, and I remembered that I hadn't picked up my bus pass yet. So I was fumbling through my purse, wondering why I had to carry SO MUCH stuff in such a small bag, and saw the bus. Everyone else got on, and I was still searching for the change to pay. The driver waved me aboard, probably willing to accept what change I could find. I found the change I needed, and we were off.

Half way home I notice that the driver has not taken an important turn off towards my neck of the woods and is now on a highway headed in the wrong direction. I had apparently gotten on the 57 bus instead of the 50 bus. The visual appearance of these two buses are only subtly different (whats one digit between friends?) and yet, they are not the same.

I ended up in the middle of nowhere, waiting in the scorching sun for one of two buses required to land me at home. It was a good 25 minutes before the first bus arrived, and by this time it was nearly 6 already. I called Ethan's after school care. His Monday childcare is a licensed daycare, and they have all kinds of rules in place for my child's safety and I'm pretty sure actually for my inconvenience. Such rules as: there will be a 25 dollar late fee if you don't pick up your kid by 6:00, and then a billion dollars a minute after 5 minutes, or the "your kid cannot leave without being signed out by someone authorized on the official form" rule. So here I was, stuck in the middle of nowhere, dying in the sunshine, with my child across town being held hostage by a daycare that was going to charge me a million and a half dollars in ransom for being late.

I phoned everyone I know that lives within a reasonable proximity to the daycare and not a soul answered their phones.

Thankfully for me, while the daycare is designed with these awful (and very important safety) rules, they are also staffed by highschool kids who don't want to do any more work than they have to. So I begged them to release him into the wild to fend for himself, while I prayed that a bus would arrive and I could get home before he died of starvation or lit himself on fire.

In the end, the bus arrived and then the second bus arrived, and Ethan made it home and he knows how to work the TV so he was happy and fine. I was exhausted, and he was fine, and I didn't have to pay a million and a half extra dollars ransom to the daycare. What a day!

So I was going to write an amazing post about truth and happiness and emotions, but I thought that this would be more true to where I'm at today. Today is an unpolished post about what being a single mom is REALLY like. Sometimes it's tricky and imperfect. Sometimes I'm an idiot, and I get on the wrong bus because I forgot to buy a bus pass and end up across town and stranded. But it all worked out. I didn't burst into tears and flail myself into the street in a desperate attempt to acquire rescue, and Ethan didn't light himself on fire. I think it went well.

- KR Munro

PS. What do you guys think of this kind of post? Is this something you would enjoy once in a while? I am hoping to post frequently again, but know that sometimes I won't be perfect about it. Sometimes I'll be stuck on the other side of town because life happens. Sometimes the posts will be polished and artful, and other times they may be casual and playful, or uplifting, or who knows. But they will most likely reflect real life. Real life as a single mom isn't always easy.

Thanks for reading. I'm glad to be back.

- Kell

15 comments:

  1. Yay! Nice to have you back. I thought perhaps you had flung yourself into the street or were entirely occupied extinguishing your son but NO, here you are! Please keep writing, no matter the level of polish on your posts. I look forward to hearing what is happening for you and learning something I can use in my own life!!

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  2. PS - SLM followers, please check out this important and inspiring footage:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ8U2lX6EE0&feature=mh_lolz&list=LLPZoy9K8-_WI

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  3. Thanks Gillian! I had not actually flung myself into the street. :) I will keep writing. I've got two more posts ready for later this week. I'll do my best. :)

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  4. Just stumbled across your blog through facebook and found it very amusing and entertaining...of course more so since my own children are now 20, 23, & 26 and do not require me to fly across town to pick them up from daycare but I do remember those days very well. I remember being called at work one day by a very lovely woman who had my 6 year old son at her house (the daycare had sent my 8 year old daughter to go into the school and get him when he didnt show up for the bus, she couldnt find him so they left without him) he tried to walk to the daycare but got lost and knocked on someones door.

    Do not miss those fun times...hang in there Kelly it does end....

    Another single lesbian mom...

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  5. Welcome here, Dee! Thanks for finding us and commenting. It is amazing to know that one day he will be old enough to exist without childcare. In the last few months even, his sense of independence has triple-folded. We were at the fair the other weekend, and he asked to go check some stuff out while I sat on the beach. Off he went, and I knew he was okay. He knew he was okay. It was a strange and magical thing. They get older.

    Glad you're here, Dee. I hope you clicked on the facebook like, or used one of the follow buttons at the top of the page so that you can stay in touch!!

    -Kell

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  6. What an adventure! Call me if that ever happens again; here I was just killing time at my mom's before class and I totally would have driven out to get you :)

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  7. Oh Kristy, I so would have if I had thought of it!! But I wouldn't have known you were in the area. :) What an adventure indeed!! :) But it worked out. :D

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  8. I liked this post. You don't always have to write about serious topics to keep my interest. I love a good, quick read every now and again. Plus- I was a single mom for 2 years, and I know how it can be. :)

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  9. Thanks Pinwheelsandpoppies! I appreciate hearing that. :) I'll aim to post SOMETHING every other day. :D Thanks for the encouragement! You're awesome. You all are!

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  10. Isn't is funny how it usually takes something like this to make us realize that they are capable? One day I couldn't get home in time (due to my inability to know how to navigate myself from the south side of the city) to meet Miranda at the bus stop. This, of course, was the day she forget the phone I have armed her with so I have no idea whether she has her emergency key. Now I now that an 11 year old IS capable of using the key and locking the door behind her LOL She made it and I made it (not without a minor panic attack, mind you, but still...) We may have made a small tear in the umbilical cord :D
    I agree with pinwheels, every post doesn't need to be serious. It should be about you or what interests you or even how your day was. As long as you are writing it, I will read it! Love ya girl <3

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  11. Way to go hun! Sounds like quite the crazy adventure! Been there done that totally feel for ya! U could've called me I would've gotten u or Ethan or both :) I love your blog made me smile and brings back my own daycare dramas!

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  12. I like these type of posts too. They don't all have to be polished and perfect. Just do whatever comes naturally at the time. Real life can be very entertaining! Glad it worked out okay--I know those after-school care rules well!

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  13. hahah oh my kelly <3. You are an awesome mom, even when you get on the wrong bus :).

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  14. Quick updates about everyday life are fine, Kell. I haven't been posting as much lately, either. I felt really guilty the first time I posted something under 600 words. But in the end, this blog stuff is really self-serving, isn't it? It is for me, anyway. A way to think and share those thoughts with others who might be able to relate.

    If I'd ended up across town and was about to be charged a million and a half dollars in ransom charges, I'd be panicked and cussing. I'm glad you were able to work it out and your son didn't burn the place down. He sounds like a good kid.

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  15. Thanks chris! You inspire me to keep writing. Ive been putting in an effort to stay on schedule lately. So far so good. :) and its nice to write the personal updates sometimes! Thanks for the encouragement!! Appreciated. :)

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