This story takes place during Makaela's second year of middle school (7th grade). Makaela had been having issues with her friends. Her core group of friends had been excluding her. I'm not certain of the whole story, and I'm not claiming she is innocent in what transpired but I only heard her side of the story. Anyway, it was turning out to be a rough year, not only with friends but her parents were in this awful court battle and although all of this is going on around her she remained extremely resilient and overall unaffected (from the outside).
Anyway, she asked if she could have a slumber party, which she hadn’t asked for in a long time so we welcomed the opportunity for her to reconnect with her girlfriends. So, jumping on this opportunity, I supported a whole day extravaganza. The plan was to meet at the mall for lunch, they would shop around, go to a movie, then home for dinner and slumber party. Who got to coordinate it all? Me, because I’m the organizer. I was also the one that was at the mall with them from start to finish (about 11:30-5:30). I’m not complaining because I was able to run some errands and also went to go to a movie I had wanted to see. The rest of the night seemed to go well, the girls covered each other in makeup, posted incessantly on Instagram, and even watched a scary movie, without any drama (to my knowledge anyway), which is a success in my book.
Earlier in the day (probably while we were at the mall) I had a friend ask if I wanted to meet for breakfast the following morning. Knowing that I was going to have a long day with the girls I jumped at the opportunity for my own girl time, thinking Jason would be around to take care of the “pick-ups” in the morning. Well, while I was planning my breakfast, he was simultaneously planning a hike with his buddies, neither of us sharing with the other, what our plans were for the next day.
Let me just add that somehow whenever there is a slumber party Jason manages to MAGICLY fall asleep through all the laughing/screaming/music/TV and was sleeping by 8:00, if not earlier. So, I was left to manage curfew and was waking up every hour on the hour because I could hear the girls and the basement TV, before finally telling them it was time for bed, lights out.
After all that, I woke up the next morning and Jason was gone, to the gym of course, because he's Jason and he had been able to sleep for 8 hours, so why not head to the gym. I woke up and did the math of what I needed to do to be able to leave by 8 for my brunch date, which included making pancakes, like the freaking awesome stepmom that I am (even though they were from a box).
Jason gets home from the gym and I remind him that I’m leaving at 8 so he’s in charge of kid pick-ups. He then says they will be fine and asks if I’m planning on cooking breakfast before I leave (with a desperate look on his face like “oh my god, do I have to cook breakfast for the girls before I leave”). I say yes, I was planning on it, so while I'm busting my ass getting breakfast ready he had the luxury of changing into his hiking gear, packing his car, and then waking the girls before he leaves. Me on the other hand, after spending the day AND NIGHT with the girls, is making pancakes (without a shower) before I can leave for MY girl time, which will and did include a mimosa, because dammit I earned it!
I finally got away, with pancake mix all over the front of my shirt. At that point I didn’t even care, I just needed out of the house. After all that, no one (Jason or Makaela) understands or appreciates the time and effort I put into planning the slumber party so that Makaela would have a successful party, at least the parts that I could control or help with.
I guess this is all just a part of being a parent, you bust your ass with no recognition and then do it all over again and again. It sounds like I'm complaining, which I am (because sometimes you just need to), but at the same time, I hope that Makaela looks back and remembers all the little things that I did for her because I love her.
My husband, on the other hand, needs to buy me more gifts.
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