5 things that happen when you’re running late
A well-planned afternoon commute to grab her from school…
What could go wrong?
One I got caught up in work. It was just one more email response. It took 5 minutes - and it felt so good to get it done! Besides, I had built in buffer time. 40 minutes to pick up Lil Momma; 75 minutes till the appointment (which was 30 minutes away from LM)
Two Well, not two, but three detours. I’m directionally challenged, but I know the area. I have worked in the same building for 18 years. I used to live down the street from it. But I ended up on a street I’d never heard of before and nothing looked familiar. I started my GPS to check my LM arrival time and it had added 15 minutes - my buffer had gone poof! 15 minutes to pick up Lil Momma; 45 minutes till the appointment
Three Somehow, I made up time and arrived at school with us only 5 minutes behind. As they called LM, I called my guy to call the dentist (I hate phone calls) and let them know we’d be 5 minutes late. They let him know that if we were 10 minutes late, they reschedule the appointment and we still pay. I was so frustrated both because it was my avoidable fault and because I had spent the last week telling LM how chill the ride would be and that we’d go in calm and ok with where ever our feelings were at (and I was not ok with where my feelings were at haha)… -5 minutes to pick up Lil Momma; 25 minutes till the appointment (and 34 minutes till we were out of luck)
Four We get on the road (straight shot, but 30 minutes away). 5 minutes in, a dog three vehicles up leaps from the window and runs wildly across the road and into yards and back into the road. Traffic stops. My heart drops: do we give up and look for the dog? Are we those people who try to drive by? 5 minutes go by before we move.* 15 minutes till the appointment (and 24 minutes till we were out of luck)
Five We pull into the parking lot and I let LM out at the doors to run in (which I’d never normally do) while I parked. I park and run in. They take her back while I sign her in just under the cutoff. -8 minutes till the appointment; I can’t believe we made it!
Obviously, not the chill ride to a tooth extraction that I was hoping for, sigh. LM was a little shook up, but handled the moment like a champion (all that work we’ve done about how it’s ok to be scared, but sometimes we just have to get through things) and was only frustrated by the fact that they talked to her like she was a baby; “they kept saying they’d wiggle it out, but they pulled it! I felt them pull it! I knew what was happening!”
Here’s to facing fears and riding out (truly) the bumps in life!
*the dog was found! By a drone! Phew, glad for that ending.
This sounds so harrowing! I have secondhand anxiety for you. So glad you made it on time!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much - me, too!
DeleteI keep track of "gold stars" and "demerits" each month and I just wrote down last night how I have gotten into the bad habit of not leaving enough buffer before activities. It sounds like you had lots of buffer but it got chewed up in completely unpredictable ways...but I just don't leave enough buffer period. Like I'll leave 10 minutes before an appointment at a place 10 minutes away. This never used to be me; prior to having kids I was ALWAYS early to everything, and now mostly barely arrive on time. Ugh. It's a bad habit and I really, really need to do some work on this.
ReplyDeletePoor girl having to get teeth out. I had 4 out as a kiddo and, ironically enough, had a wisdom tooth out yesterday. Sending lots of healing love your way.
I’ve been so out of the loop this week! So sorry about your wisdom tooth - those recoveries can be more than one would expect! LM was so brave and then ended up with a massive canker sore situation that took over our week, oof.
DeleteI used to leave so much more buffer before having a kid! I think I risk being late now because getting there too early means she’ll be bored or we’re coming from something else and there’s just no time (or there’s always one more thing I think I can get done, sigh haha!)…
DETOURS!! I have no sense of direction, either, and I find it so frustrating when appropriate signs are not posted for detours. I mean, how am I supposed to know about this teeny tiny road that cuts through?! This sounds stressful, but I'm glad you made it to your appointment on time!
ReplyDeleteDetours ruin me! I’m so dependent on landmarks (and landmarks when I’m facing a specific direction) that being spun around leaves me completely lost!
DeleteAieeee! How hair-raising! I can't believe you still made it on time - whew!
ReplyDeleteI was NOT going to pay for an appointment we didn’t make haha!
DeleteOh, I HATE things like this!!! To make these things even worse, my daughter gets really tense and continually says "We're going to be late. What happens if we're late? We're going to be late.." So much anxiety. Well, I'm glad it all worked out okay (except for the heart attack you probably had when that dog jumped out of the car!)
ReplyDeleteMy girl is the same! She narrates her anxiety and then I’m in even more of a spiral, sigh. I’d say “don’t know where she gets it from”, but… haha!
DeleteOMG, I would have been so dang stressed out by this. And, a dental extraction, to boot. And for a kid. A kid who seems like she might tend towards anxious anyway. I'm so glad you got through this but do wonder what your heart rate was by the end....
ReplyDelete