Blog fodder

I was going to write this post last night after the kids went to bed but fell asleep with Braedan at 9:30 and didn’t get up again (except to take out my contacts and move to my own bed) until 9 this morning. Which is all sort of fitting since the moral of this story is that I was clearly in need of some catch-up sleep.

Braedan had a friend’s birthday party yesterday at one of those bouncy places located a half hour away. One of the other moms had kindly offered to pick him up and drop him off so I wouldn’t have to worry about bringing Austin along (not exactly germ-free, those bouncy places). So there was Braedan, all bundled in his coat and boots with gift in hand, waiting by the window … and waiting … and waiting. Finally, after about twenty minutes, I texted the other mom (who happens to be extremely responsible and not at all flaky), not wanting to be pushy, not wanting her to feel too bad if she forgot him (and I was pretty sure she had forgotten him and was very sure she’d feel awful about it): “Just checking to see if you’re still picking up Braedan … I can always bring him out there if necessary.”

No word back. So I rechecked the invitation for directions, load him into the car (Austin safely with Mark) and zoom out there. Braedan was in a panic the whole time about how much of the party he was missing, asking me every two minutes what time it was and how many minutes of play were left. We finally got there, headed inside and, seeing no one I recognized, told the woman at the counter that we were there for so-and-so’s birthday.

She looked at me slightly confused, went to check the computer and cheerfully declared: “Oh! That party is tomorrow!”

Huh.

Well, that explains why this very responsible mother “forgot” to pick up my son and didn’t return my messages! And let’s not overlook the fact that I had rechecked the invitation for directions and completely skipped over the very large date. Braedan actually handled it all very well; I think he was mostly relieved that he hadn’t missed any of the party (and hadn’t been forgotten) and would get the full play time after all, just one day later.

We were able to laugh about it and I just shook my head and thought, “Well, that’ll make for a funny blog post.” This is apparently what my life has become: fodder for my blog!

And at least I got those eleven-plus hours of sleep last night!