This week I’m joining Kathryn at Team Whitaker to blog every day for Week In My Life!
I’m not getting up this morning. I’m just not. So Leo and I lie in bed and talk.
“I know what Baba is going to say when he comes out of the shower,” I say.
“What?”
“He’s going to say, ‘You’re still in bed! We’re going to be late!’”
But I’m wrong. When John comes out of the bathroom, he says, “Today’s Purple Friday! You can wear purple over your uniform!”
It’s true. Because Leo’s class brought in the most jars of peanut butter and jelly for Our Daily Bread, they earned the right to wear Ravens attire over their uniforms.
The day has begun, so I get up and head to the kitchen. A half-asleep Daniel follows me and climbs up into my arms.
On mornings when I haven’t put the boys to bed the night before, we seem to have so much to catch up on. Since I was working late and missed not just bedtime, but also their first experience with a new babysitter, our drowsy little boy has so much to tell me.
Yes, they had a great time with—let’s call her Caitlin.
Yes, they want her to come again.
Yes, of course they listened to her.
“Did you let her have a dumpling?” I ask Daniel.
“Mama, I let her have TWO dumplings,” he says. Such generosity.
We talk about Caitlin all morning, and I mention at least once to the boys—but not to John, as I will realize later—that because this is Friday, today is the day we are giving her a ride to school. We do that once a week, and it’s always a raucous ride since the boys kick their antics up several notches to entertain her.
The boys are happy because we have leftover lo mein for breakfast.
John gives them each a Maryland medallion he picked up for them yesterday at the installation of the new chancellor for the University System of Maryland, and Daniel wants to take his to show his class.
John says he’ll take the boys to school because again—this is a theme this week, this month, and likely this lifetime—Mama is running late.
I wave them off and go to take a shower. When I get out, I glance at my phone and notice that John has called. That’s odd.
I listen to his message. He drove to school and when they got there, Daniel looked around and said, “Where’s Caitlin?” It was only then that John remembered he was supposed to take her to school too, but I hadn’t reminded him. And I usually handle drop-off on Fridays.
I call Caitlin and apologize and say I’ll be there in a few minutes, dress at lightning speed, run out the door, drive to her house, and apologize profusely. She’s quite relaxed about it and seems to be fine—thank goodness for flexible, resilient eighth graders. I drop her at the door, text her mother to explain and apologize, and head to work, where I am late for my meeting—but not by much.
We have a student intern working with us this semester, and this is one of his days to be in our office—which he really seems to enjoy. I pull him into a meeting where we suddenly start having a Star Wars-related brainstorming session. He ends up with an assignment we’re all excited about that is partly his idea.
We’re so busy with projects that need immediate attention that I look at my watch and realize it is 1:25 and I haven’t eaten all day. So I run out to grab a quick lunch to bring back to my desk before my 2 p.m. meeting. The afternoon goes quickly too. I make a ridiculous spelling error in an email that fortunately only went to a colleague who is a friend. When I show it to my colleagues, we laugh so hard we are in tears.
By the end of the day, though, I am ready for the weekend. I pick up our boys at school and we head home.
We have leftover beef ragu for dinner, so I reheat it and it’s phenomenal, even better than when we ate it on Wednesday, in case you’re looking for the recipe.
When John comes home, we eat dinner together and then sit down to watch Penguins of Madagascar. It’s funnier than I would expect, but not my favorite. The boys enjoy it, though.
Afterward, as we are brushing teeth, Daniel says, “Can I wear my uniform again tomorrow?” and I say he can—an easy yes. The boys have talked John into another night sleeping on our floor, so I tuck them in there. We say prayers and turn out the light.