It Was Just a Mission Statement....

Remember that scene in Jerry McGuire when he is staring into the fishbowl? That's kind of how I felt this morning. Today was the day of Lucy's end-of-school year picnic that I coordinated for her classmates, parents and teachers. The one I mentioned was a saga to reserve because of the Park Natzi and the reservation policies, etc. I had been working on a potential sitter for Tommy for the past 3 weeks because I really wanted to spend some one-on-one time with Lucy and totally focus on her for her big day. Alas, it wasn't written in the cards for me today...
My friend Karen had a stomach bug and Tommy was supposed to share a sitter at her house. I didn't want him to be exposed to it and it would have been 4 children for the sitter to take on instead of 2 little ones...a bit much.
So off we headed to the picnic with both kids and I tried not to feel too sorry for myself about it. But I was so frustrated by it. I feel like I never do anything with JUST Lucy these days. But whatever...moving on...
Get a call from my friend Erin at 10:45 (picnic starts at 11 a.m.) that she's in the hospital with her youngest son. Now I'm worried about her son and realizing that she was in charge of bringing all paper products to this picnic! I immediately start looking in the small town where the picnic was being held, for a store that sells paper plates and silverware. Finally find the one grocery store in town. One potty break by Lucy with Tommy in my arms later, I have stolen paper towels in my purse, forks from Starbucks and $20 in fancy paper plates from the gifty shop store. It's 10:55 a.m. Off we go...
When we arrive at the park, I pack up the kids and the stroller with the 500 things I brought and head to the Gazebo I rented. Well, Park Natzi failed to mention the Gazebo is NO where close to the kid's playground. It's clear across the park actually. After walking all that way (Lucy is so over this and wonders when she can just get on a swing for god's sake!), I repack us all up and go to the bigger Gazebo we didn't reserve. No one is around so I figure, if they kick us out than they kick us out. Thank the sweet lord above, no one kicked us out. Or I might have kicked their ass at this point.
In conclusion...it was a nice time and everyone enjoyed themselves. I tried not to feel too sorry for myself when I would have to leave Lucy on a swing while I chased down Tommy. And she would sit patiently and wait for me to come back. Or she had to play in the sand with her friend Allie and her Dad because I was chasing Tommy in the other direction. And that I really didn't have much conversation with anyone more than 3 minutes long. And that I lost Tommy for 5 minutes and had a "heart in your stomach" moment that I hated.
On our way home, I looked in the back seat at the kiddos. They were both tanned and smiling with sunscreen greased on their faces. We sang "Put Your Happy Face On." Lucy said she had so much fun. Ms. Gloria pushed her on the swing and that's all she really wanted, anyway. We survived...fires were fought and it wasn't exactly ideal...but it was all good.