The Turkey Trots

Great!  Back again to being the late one. 

You know what I am talking about.  The parent who gets the date- event-time-location wrong, or is caught in traffic- lost- stuck in a meeting- keys locked in the car- ALWAYS LATE.  You either ARE that parent, or have watched with pity (subtext: disgust) as that certain person slinks in the side door.  You don't know, but we slink because we're  praying no one notices the tardiness, especially our own lovely kid!  Well he noticed.  They all noticed.  Unfortunately, my husband was in tow and noticed as well.

Eight minutes late for the first grader's two minute Thanksgiving play.  Although I walk into the hall, excited to see all the parents still lined up, I realize within seconds that the time was magically changed.  Unfortunately, husband and I were only one of two families that didn't read the teacher's new memo.  Enter the 6 year old wearing a crumpled construction paper turkey perched on his head. One look at the LATE ONES and he bursts into tears. Another couple tries to ease our embarrassment with, "It was on our fridge for 2:45 too!"  Thanks, but neither the hubster nor the kid is buying that one. 

So, today I get to face up to the fact that even with a lot of time and practice, sometimes I stink at the job of motherhood.  I make kids cry, I lie about seeing every moment of their sporting event, and I have been known to doze off during a dance recital.  You know, as parents we have been given the oldest "practice child" to screw up.   Some how, I had always hoped that by number 4 I'd get it right.  Well the boy with the speech about the turkey waddle will tell ya:  it just ain't so, and he's the fourth practice model.

As I stood wiping first grade tears with the sleeve of my coat, I realized something.  Even though times are changing  I still haven't caught up.  We are all just works in progress and for that I am thankful.  So for today I can be nicer to myself and realize I'm not the only one under construction.   So, counting my blessings gets easier, and I still can say with a straight face, "Better late than never!" 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone out there in blog-land, and take a minute to be thankful for what we are becoming, and remember you're never too late.