So, I have only now stopped to take a breath, have a cup of tea, and sit down to write this. Wow, what a crazy day! Let me give you a play-by-play, just so another human being knows what it was like.

I wake up this morning feeling completely wiped. Open my eyes, crawl out of bed, and sklank into the bathroom. Millie guns it for the toilet, and Togy is howling.

Suddenly it occurs to me that I don’t have the car. OH NO!!!!!! I kick it into high gear.

Today is the day that I am supposed to take Millie to the Nutcracker. I had it perfectly timed to teach both of my classes at the gym, take a quick shower there, and then speed up to Everett in just enough time to get to the show. CHANGE OF PLANS!

I quickly feed the girls and the cats, all the while sending texts and emails to all concerned, trying to get my second class at the gym covered by another instructor, and trying to find a ride up to Everett from one of the other moms. I am also separating the cats so Togy doesn’t try to eat Tillie’s food. I put Togy on the deck with his food, and keep Tillie in.

I get a text from a mom I don’t know, saying that she could take us up to Everett, so now I am coordinating with her via text messages, while still doing all the things I just mentioned. Now it occurs to me that I haven’t made lunches for any of us, and that I need to do that. I start doing that, and then get another text from someone saying she can cover my second class at the gym. GREAT!

Oh yeah, I need to eat breakfast or I’ll never survive the next several hours. Trying to shovel some food in, make lunches, and order the girls around so that they get dressed appropriately. I glance at the floor and notice that Tillie hasn’t eaten hardly any of her breakfast. I make a mental note.

I continue making lunches, while texting the mom that is going to give me a ride – having her pick me up at the Y.

OH YEAH!! I’ll have to shower at the gym! I run into the bedroom and pack an outfit for myself, shampoo, conditioner, hair goo, deodorant, BOOTS, and a towel all into my backpack. I get dressed in my workout clothes, throw on my coat, and run back into the kitchen. I hand Mara her lunch, hug her goodbye as she runs out the door, and then run back into the kitchen. WAIT! I run into the girls’ bedroom and help Millie get her tights on – my dry skin and brittle nails are snagging the tights – SHOOT!!! Grab Millie’s brush and brush the tangles out. Send her to get her coat and shoes.

I run back into the kitchen and finish packing everything – my lunch, Millie’s lunch, my water bottle and Millie’s water bottle, and my workout notebook. I shove a days worth of vitamins in my mouth and swill down some water. I throw my cell phone into my purse, get my shoes on, and then glance at the floor and notice Tillie STILL hasn’t eaten her food. This is not good. I let Togy in off the deck. I put Tillie’s food out on the deck, and put Tillie out there. She has to eat. I can’t leave her all day without food. I have to leave her on the deck :(. Had I thought this through I might have done it differently….

WOW!! I’M GONNA BE LATE. I throw my coat on, throw my backpack on my back, sling my workout bag and purse over my shoulder, grab Millie and run out the door. Millie gets into the stroller and I RUN ALL THE WAY TO THE GYM WHILE PUSHING MILLIE IN THE STROLLER.

I get there with two minutes to spare. I check Millie into childcare, get my room set up, and teach my step class with all kinds of energy. Where did that come from? Class ends and I RUN to the locker room with ALL OF MY STUFF. I forget to bring my lock. I pile up ALL OF MY STUFF right by the shower, take a record fast shower, get out, dry off, and get dressed while still sweating from my workout. Grab Millie out of childcare and go stand out front of the Y. We are EXACTLY on time. It’s a miracle.

Julie (the mom that I don’t know but she’s very nice) and her 4.5 year old son Chet arrive, and we load ALL OF MY STUFF into their car; we get in. We head up to Everett, chatting all the while. We end up in an industrial part of Everett – that’s the address we were given. Not too worried at this point – what we are really concerned about is finding a STARBUCKS. Julie has a great app on her phone that finds the nearest Starbucks with a drive-thru…. yes, there’s an app for that! We get her eggnog latte and my matcha green tea latte with half the sweetener, and some sweets for the kids. And we’re off!

We get back to that industrial zone, and look around, and think that maybe we’re not at the right place? I check my email, and sure enough, our organizer had sent us the wrong address! But no worries (what would we do without smart phones?), I click on the new address that she had emailed, and Siri (what would we do without smart phones?) guides us to the Everett Performing Arts Center. We have made it on time. I breathe a sigh of relief. I am grateful for having this entire fiasco happening, because I’ve really enjoyed meeting Julie. The show is AMAZING. Little faces of all the kids staring in wonder at the beautiful ballerinas, the crazy mice, the nutcracker, Clara, Uncle Drosselmeyer, and all the rest. Worth every effort spent.

The show is a “kids” version, so it’s only an hour long – PERFECT!! Kids are getting wiggly. When the show is over, we go outside and try to coerce the children into taking holiday photographs. Not an easy task. And we take more pictures. We keep the kids from getting into the fountain. We take more pictures.

The three amigos.

We run back to Julie’s car because we remember that we don’t want to get a parking ticket! We sit in the car for a while and look at the pictures we just took on our smart phones – the kids start complaining. I show Julie how to edit her photographs on her phone – the kids keep complaining. We text each other our favorite shots – the kids keep complaining. Okay, okay, we get on the road. I pass Millie back her lunch – thank goodness I packed it! She eats every crumb.

Christmas Gifts.

We get to our house and Julie pulls into our driveway, upon my suggestion. I get out, I get Millie out, and I unload ALL OF MY STUFF AND THE STROLLER out of her car. As I am doing this, the garbage collectors pull up and block Julie in our driveway. Why WOULDN’T this happen? Millie and I get to the front door and I am lugging ALL OF MY STUFF rather awkwardly.The garbage truck moves on, I wave goodbye to Julie, and we get in the house. I RUN to the deck and let Tillie in. There’s a puddle of pee on the couch on our deck. I run downstairs, get the cat pee stain remover spray, some rags, and run back out onto the deck. Millie is trying to make Netflix work. I scrub and scrub the couch cushions, grab the smaller cushion and run back down to the laundry room and run a load of laundry to try and save the small cushion.

I put ALL OF MY STUFF away, make a cup of tea, and sit down to write. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. All in a day’s work. I think I want this to be my first blog post!!!!

Christmas Angel.