tea cups, jump ropes, a trip to the circus

maybe no mom is on top of everything, but i suspect some of you out there are.  anyway, i was not on top of things again today as i biked william and henry over to their school and we paused for a group of kids and teachers and oh... crud... this is william's class.  a field trip.  that i am again in the dark about.  normally nowadays, i would not be, but july is not normal.  all of the regular teachers who would give me a hundred reminders about a thing like this after the copenhagen debacle are on holiday, and william along with the other few children whose families are too cruel to take them on three week european vacations have merged and moved in with the children from the other classroom, so the familiar weekly calendar is not in its familiar spot and so i sort of... forgot about it and didn't look at it this week.    


i opened the rain flap on the burley for william to jump out with his class... and ah, yes, (if the rain weren't enough), it becomes obvious as soon as the two littles are revealed from behind the mesh and plastic... it's raining.  and they are not in their rain gear.  instead i have thrown a towel down on the seat and hidden them behind a rain flap.  okay... i will get henry into his classroom as soon as possible, take william over to his classroom's coat area, put him in the boots and rain coat that live in his cubby, and ride him over to the bus stop.  i will do this with an optimism that inspires confidence (though i feel a bit like a kid who screwed up, again) knowing this is the same scenario that threatened to put both of us into therapy earlier in the spring and the reason we own a matchbox tour bus and the reason i check the weekly calendar religiously and the reason i get a hundred reminders from his teachers.  


we beat his class to the bus stop.  i've already prepared him that when they arrive, "i think i'll just head into the super best to pick us up some more bananas." but as i'm preparing to go, he calls out to me through quivering lips that maybe i could stay because he's going to wave to me from the bus.  


"of course!"  


in the end, it all seems to work.  he goes to the circus.  i buy the bananas.  and maybe he's still too young to notice that his mom, who has no real good excuse, somehow still requires a great deal of scrambling to get along.  

afterwards, sarah (neighbor, friend, personal danish ambassador) and i meet at the train station and she takes me around to the thrift stores where i purchase 6 shallow bowls, a frying pan, an electric kettle, two mixing bowls, and a pair of slippers for william, for school in the wintertime (because i am that on top of things).

before we part, we stop in for a little smackeral of something at a fancy store selling high-end chocolates and tea cups.  i get rhubarb cake, she gets bread and cheese and a tiny teacupful of espresso for many, many kroners, which she jokes about, with the woman behind the counter.

teacup shown in actual size in this photo!

we part ways.  i have crayons and a jump rope to buy.  she has an aunt to visit.  as i walk back to my bike, it begins to drizzle.  by the time i'm on my way, it's raining steadily and i am having a conversation with my rain pants which are sitting on the radiator back at home.

"this is my job, regan! what good am i if you don't take me with you on a rainy day?"

"you're right.  you are absolutely right."


can you argue with a pair of rain pants?