Let me start by saying that I hate being busy. I like to wake up slow and take my sweet time figuring out what to do with my day. I like to take a wait and see approach. I love cancelled plans and snow days, simply for that moment of revelation when I’m suddenly free from all obligations.
Yet, here I stand before you thoroughly exhausted from a week that has been over scheduled, like every other American mom I know. I need more time.
Adulting is hard work.
This week has been stuffed with fun, friends and learning, but also cleaning, struggling to keep my eyes open past 9, and (oh, this is the best) a hot water tank having a nervous breakdown and flooding the basement- all while my darling husband has been traveling for work. Just an FYI, he’s also been having nice dinners out, and drinking Singapore Slings which he claims he doesn’t like much, but thinks I would like because they’re sweet and touristy.
A Singapore Sling.
Photo by @dlandisman on Instagram.
He managed to get tickets to the grand prix race that wove through the streets of Singapore. I’m sure he would want me to add that he worked super duper hard at what ever it is he does with very difficult clients and that jet lag feels like a slow, painful death. Clearly, some forms of adulting are harder than others.
At the Grand Prix race in Singapore. Photo by Dave / @dlandisman on Instagram.
So now that I’ve ranted a bit, I’ll tell you a little about my week. This is the cute stuff.
I taught my very first kids cooking class and no one was harmed. I’m kind of proud. The kids in our new homeschool co-op are sweet and adorable (I’m being serious now) and they worked hard to make these awesome little bento boxes with ‘onigiri’ which is Japanese for super cute, itty-bitty food things in bento boxes.
We had a small crisis that morning, when I woke up to find that the cat stole an entire box of nori out of my bag over night and ate every last bit.
First thought: Do I have more nori? Why yes, I have a back up box, because – ADULT over here.
Second thought: Will ingesting an entire bag of nori kill my cat? Of course not. It’s only seaweed, right? {The cat has continued to live and steal everything edible.}
One of my students brought her apron and chef hat to class…
She shows great promise as a bento artist. She also asked to help me clean up, and washed everything while the other kids messed around at the end of class. She could possibly surpass my skills at both bento and adulting in the next year or two.
Now, it’s Friday afternoon and Dave has safely landed at JFK, which is a 90 minute drive that typically takes 6 hours in afternoon traffic, because New York is a competitive place and fully committed to offering the most intense possible traffic that unreasonably high taxes can buy. It takes twice as long for him to get from Queens to Connecticut than it does to get from Singapore to Hong Kong. Don’t feel too bad for him, remember the Singapore Slings, the race, and the concert. Wait, did I forget to tell you about the concert? He caught an Imagine Dragons concert after the race. He’s not too proud of this one, as he’s a metal kind of guy, but even the kids were annoyed that they missed out. The last concert I attended that didn’t feature one of my kids was in the last century. 1998. We had box seats at Madison Square Garden for phish, and when the music started, we watched thousands of fans simultaneously lighting up. The smoke rose up in a giant cloud of happiness.
Anyway, I’m a grown-up now. I don’t really like concerts anymore. And even though Imagine Dragons played Forever Young, it’s not Alphaville. I think I still have a mixed tape around here somewhere with the original and all the other best music ever.
I’ll have to make dinner soon, but the basement is sorta somewhat drying out. We don’t have any hot water (due to the hot water tank issue / flood) and I filled the house with smoke when I tried to run the dishwasher, assuming it would just use the cold water. Not so! Maybe other people know this? The dishwasher would rather set itself on fire than wash dishes in cold water. It is weird that I get how it feels?
And my day is wrapping up with my teen and I dancing around the kitchen to Peace Train. It felt like a logical “next song” after I explained to her that the title of this post is a reference to If I Could Save Time In A Bottle, which she thought was a bit of a downer.
Also, Peace Train always lifts a person’s spirit. We all need a little bit of peace and hope and happy at the end of the week.
Then I pushed the moment a little too far and spoke of a song by Bono, and she said she thinks Ravyn Simone covered it. Yeah. And why did they take her out of the Cheetah Girls? Is it because she’s a lesbian? And screw Disney for being homophobic like that. I said she’s better off without them, and that she probably had better things to do. She told me that the Cheetah Girls movies were just appropriating culture, etc…I think she Sarah Lawrenced me. I’m sure it has plenty to do with the patriarchy too.
And although this week has been full of me not feeling the freedom of cancelled plans and on a whim living, it’s still been kind of awesome. I can’t save this time with them. I know it. Every now and then it hits me like a wave, like the kind of wave that knocks you to the sand and spins you under water while you try keep your bikini top on and your bikini bottom out of your ass. I get slammed with the realization that they’re growing up so damn fast, and soon won’t need me much. Then I think what the hell am I going to do?
Hmm. I’ll be sad and lonely for certain. Probably every single day.
Also, I hear Singapore is nice this time of year.
Imagine Dragons, Singapore 2016
