I try to stay on top of things as a stay-at-home dad. Believe me, I really do. However, I have a slight problem that makes it hard for me to do just that. Mainly, I’m unobservant, forgetful, and have a propensity for procrastination. Obviously all of those things work against me on a regular basis. However, there are those occasional days where I set out to do everything right and still find myself failing. Today just so happened to be one of those days.
With Tuesdays being one of Ethan’s school days, that means
that our entire morning tends to move really fast. As a result, anything that I
can do to make my mornings easier on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I do it. That’s how
I found myself making Ellie’s lunch and Ethan’s school snack for the day before
the sun had even completely risen.
The idea made plenty of sense in my head. Since I was
already in the kitchen and had just finished heating up the kids’ oatmeal, why
not go ahead and get stuff done. So with that, I proceeded to make Ellie a
delicious ham sandwich accompanied by a side of carrots and red peppers, a
cheese stick, and an apple for dessert. Then, I went ahead and slathered some
peanut butter between a couple of graham crackers and put them in a Rubbermaid
container for Ethan to take to school. Honestly, I was feeling pretty proud of
myself. After all, by my own admission, I am unobservant, forgetful, and have a
propensity for procrastination.
After getting the kids’ respective food items made, it was time
to grab a shower, get dressed for the day, and brush my teeth. Just so you know
how quickly the day goes by on a Tuesday or a Thursday, it was pretty much time
to leave to take Ethan to school as soon as those relatively simple tasks were
done. With that, I instructed Ethan to grab his snack and the three of us
headed to Ethan’s preschool to drop him off.
After that, Ellie and I decided to take advantage of our
hour together and go complete a task. Namely, we took the car to a drive-thru
car wash and got it thoroughly washed. Then, taking advantage of the free
vacuums, we went ahead and cleaned the inside as well. I love doing little
projects like this with Ellie on mornings when it’s too cold to play tennis.
For one thing, she’s actually a ton of help. For another, it’s just fun to hang
out with her and accomplish something together. After we finished cleaning, we
headed home where we played a couple of rounds of Go Fish before school.
After saying goodbye to Ellie, I headed to church for a
meeting this morning and then found my way back home with a little under an
hour remaining before it was time to pick up Ethan from K-Prep. See, I told you
that the mornings go fast. Once 11:20 am rolled around, I loaded up in the Traverse
and went to go pick up Ethan. Generally I get there a little early so that he’s
not the last one to be picked up. As I was sitting there in the parking lot,
imagine my surprise when I received a text from Ellie’s teacher that Ellie had
forgotten her lunch at home followed by a request that I bring it to school.
This honestly caught me completely off-guard. I try to
empower my kids fairly regularly by encouraging them to be responsible for getting
their lunches in their backpack and making sure their water bottles are full each
day. That being said, I realize that my kids are young so I always make sure to
ask them to confirm that everything is done. Today was no exception. I couldn’t
be mad at Ellie for a simple mistake though. After all, I’ve forgotten much
more than a lunch box over the years.
You may wonder how the story ends. It’s nothing too exciting
though. Ethan and I drove home and I ran inside and grabbed the lunch box in
the kitchen. Then, we immediately drove to Fox Hill, signed in at the office,
and walked down to the cafeteria where the two of us found Ellie. Then, we sat
there with her for the next 15 minutes while she finished her lunch before we
headed home to eat our own lunch. See, pretty simple stuff, right?
I wish I could say this will be the last time Ellie forgets
something. However, it’s pretty obvious that she will again. The good thing is
that I will inevitably be provided with another opportunity to be Ellie’s hero at
some point. It will probably even happen before the year is over too!
#DaddyWrite
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