Feeling My Age

I'm not really sure what I was thinking. I was already worn out and, quite frankly, not in the best of moods. I had driven to and from the school no less than four times and was anticipating one more round trip before the day was done. I had labored all day to make out a menu for the next week and a half, and it was slow-going because each foray to the pantry to check on needed items convinced me of the necessity for a complete overhaul--so I spent an hour or so tossing, combining and otherwise organizing our canned goods, snack foods and other non-perishable items.

I finally completed my list and was preparing to kill two birds with one stone by dropping Tyler off at his Christmas party/sleepover at the youth minister's house and then going on to pick up Darcy at school (not to mention Randy kept pestering me to "go on and get your grocery shopping done"). Randy even thought he'd help me out by offering to pick Darcy up for me, which seemed like a good idea because then I could just drop Tyler off and go on to the grocery store.

Hmmmmmm . . . what am I forgetting? Think, think, think . . . oh yeah! I still have two other kids! And while Randy and I may have been playing fast and loose lately, taking several opportunities to leave the kids at home sans sitter in an effort to build in responsibility and confidence, ain't no way I was going to leave Peyton and Sawyer by themselves! And ain't no way I was taking them to the grocery store, either. How strongly did I feel about the subject? Well, I just used the word "ain't" twice in two sentences--that ought to tell you something right there! My list was fully two pages long (typed and single-spaced) owing to the fact that I hadn't been to the store in over a week AND I'm preparing to host some marathon baking sessions in my kitchen in the coming week. And much as I normally enjoy taking my offspring to the store with me (no, really!), when I have that many items to buy, I just want to keep moving, with no distractions or interruptions or side trips.

Finally it was decided that since Darcy was going to a Christmas party at a friend's house at 5:00, I would drop her off and go on to the store from there. Two hours later (yes, that's right, two hours) I honestly wanted nothing more than to sit myself down in the aisle right there at Wal-mart and just have me a good cry. I was tired, I was hungry, I was sick of not being able to find what I wanted, I was being driven to distraction by my cart that pulled to the right so that I had to constantly do battle with it to keep from smashing into store displays or unsuspecting patrons, and I just wanted to go home.

I finally made it home around 8:00, and Randy served me a plate of warmed-up spaghetti, which I took all of forty minutes to enjoy because then, THEN it was time to go back and pick Darcy up from her party which ended at 9:00. Oy vey. And then my cell rang.

Me: "Hello?"
Voice on the other end: "Mom? It's me, Tyler. Do you have any plans for tomorrow?"

(At this point all the alarms in my head were going off but I was a little slow on the uptake.)

Me: "Plans? Not really. I was just going to do a little baking with the girls."
Tyler: "Well, here's the thing. We're short one sponsor for the sleepover and if we don't find someone we all have to go home. Do you think you could come and sleep over at Jonathan's with us?"
Me: "Sure, let me get Darcy and I'll be over in about an hour."

OH. MY. WORD. What have I just agreed to do??

I actually had a lot of fun because we arguably have the best youth group on the planet, but let's face it . . . I was coming a little late to the party and by "late" I mean, "It's bedtime, people!" Jonathan let the teens carouse for another 45 minutes or so after I got there and then he put in Prince Caspian, which they had requested to watch. I had to laugh because Jonathan indicated that part of his plan was to get the kids keyed down and ready for bed and, indeed, after the first few minutes when everyone had comments about the action onscreen, they settled in and got quiet. A few even fell asleep, predictably.

The movie was over by about 1:30 a.m., at which point everybody popped up and seemed ready for action again. Yikes! There was a flurry of activity as we determined where the boys and girls would sleep and we wondered if we were going to be able to squeeze 29 teenagers into two rather small rooms. Me, I didn't care, because I got the couch!! We got everyone squared away, made sure everybody was decent and turned out the lights. (And I must say, all the good-nights were very reminiscent of The Waltons. "Good night, Alan! Good night, Becca! Good night, Jacob! Good night, Mary Ellen! Good night, John Boy!")

From that point on . . . pure torture. Two girls were the type of snorers that you honestly can't fathom how they can sleep through their own noise, and the world's most high-tech earplugs wouldn't have muted the sound. Not to mention the ticking clock and the random nocturnal mutterings of a teenager here and a teenager there. I guess I'm a little . . . particular when it comes to my sleep needs. But at some point, probably around 4:00 a.m. or so, I couldn't take it anymore and I succumbed to a couple of hours of fitful rest. But at about a quarter to 6:00 the first alarm went off--seems some of these teens don't have the luxury of lolling around in their jammies on a Saturday morning, and they actually had to get up and go! Four of the teens took shifts: First one alarm would go off, startling me out of my stupor, and I would lay awake listening to this one or that one tip-toeing around, trying not to awaken anyone else. Then, just as I would doze off, another phone alarm would jingle and the whole process would start over again.

By 8:00 I had given up any pretense of trying to get some sleep and I just sat on the couch in a daze, wondering how a body gets by on so little sleep. The irony of it was that no less than three teens, upon awaking for the first time, proclaimed, "That was the best night of sleep I've ever had in my life!"

Oh, to be young again.