Will Work for Coffee…

Five years ago I sent my youngest off to school all day long.  I had 5 years of NO kids in my house.  I was not running a side business, I was not really volunteering, I didn’t have a super clean and organized house, nor was I napping all day.  I have no idea as to what I did with my time all day!  All in hindsight…I should have been getting my act completely together but hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it?

Last year, after almost a full year of begging to stay home, I homeschooled my youngest (5th grade) using a local homeschool group and the wings God gave me.  We flew..not too high but we flew.

–fast forward–

The dynamics of this school year are SO different than last year!!

I loathe making sak lunches for my kids to take because I’ve been doing it for YEARS!  When the kids were little I made 7 lunches (one for hubby) each morning! (Oh, now I recall what I did those 5 years….recovered from morning stress) . It’s probably one thing I really, really dislike. I think at first I felt super domestic and then it was just another chore.  As they got older…they didn’t like this or that and it made it hard to pack healthy lunches that they would all eat. Add in some food intolerances (one was allergic to vegetables and anything without sugar -JK-) and it was a nightmare.  I also wanted to make them healthy breakfasts so their brains could work all day and their bodies would have energy for sports and after school activities.  I did not want them to eat cereal!  Needless to say, I wasn’t excited about my mornings.  There was too much pressure to be great.  Now…add on top of that….3 hormonal teenage girls getting ready.  Listen, we have all been there but it was just too much.  Three different people with different personalities all required to get up and get going at the same time was not always a pleasant atmosphere.  Actually make that 4 people.

–she makes her own lunch–

 

Fast forward to this year.

Now I work for coffee.  And what is my job you ask?  It’s Uber Mom.  3 Miles in, 3 Miles back.

I only have one in high school this year. One has chosen to be homeschooled (going well I think…might need those wings though) and one has chosen life.  So, after school and before dinner Aly makes her lunch for the next day.  SHE MAKES HER OWN LUNCH!  Weight lifted.  And then, my morning looks like this:

(birds chirping and sun rising)

Fitbit buzzes at me about 6:30…I lay in bed and decide if I want to get up yet. (some days I plan  an earlier rise due to my own agenda and goals)

I hear clanging in the kitchen and I smell pancakes and coffee.

I get up.

I hang out in the kitchen and chat with Aly, maybe braid her hair.

We do a verbal checklist for the day and I take her to school and chat along the way.

I return home and get down to business. I don’t need to return to the school until 5 or so…maybe.

You guys!!!  This was the girl who we DRUG out of bed each morning because she never heard her alarm.  She would then panic each morning in order to get out the door in time.

So my job–the drive to school–is done for coffee. She hired me to drive her to school in exchange for java and making her own lunch.  I shook hands so fast I almost knocked her over!

After day one, she approached me.

“Mom, I’ll keep making you coffee, if you keep driving me to school”

Me-hhmmm, maybe

“I just need you to brush your hair and put on pants.”-smiling

Me-okay, I can do that. (didn’t say they couldn’t be pajama pants with bikes on them. 🙂

–I was hired to drive her to school in exchange for java and cold lunch–

The bus goes past our house and only make 2 stops before school (one is seasonal) so really, it doesn’t make sense to drive her.

BUT…

I get my one on one time with Aly which has been seriously lacking the last…12 years, it seems. She is gone all day and all afternoon for school and cross country and so I need to take all I can get!  I know it’s only 5 minutes in the car but it is amazing what can come up in conversation in the car.  Also, the morning is super chill and it’s quiet and just us!

 

 

I’m proud of her commitment to school, cross country and being responsible with her lunch and breakfast.  Maybe I haven’t done as bad of a job raising my kids as I thought.

So, now I drive each morning…rain or shine…snow or hail…for coffee.

Now to teach her….french press and pour overs. 🙂