Ukraine Adoption

Back to reality

We're all in our places today. Our daily routine is back and I was surprised that the kids actually got up on time this morning without much fuss. This is not an easy task after sleeping in for nine straight days. We got out of the house with our lunches, my coffee mug, Tara's school bag. Austin made it to the bus stop on time. Life was good.

I was on automatic pilot driving to Tara's school when I bumped her chocolate milk right into her bag, covering her blanket with brown streaks. Don't trust the sippy cup tops. Ugh. We turned around and headed back home to get another cotton blanket, which I found jammed under some towels in the upstairs linen closet. At the pre-school she insisted that I put four little braids in her hair, pouting when I said I was in a hurry. The braids took 10 minutes. I have a hard time saying no to her, especially when I am dropping her off and the working mom guilt thing kicks in. Plus, I know I will miss her throughout the day, those silly things she says, the hugs for no reason.

Finally, I was driving to work, sipping my coffee, the radio blasting some 1980s tunes and suddenly, a car pulls up alongside me and the woman is waving for me to open my window. This is never a good sign. She is pointing at my back tire: "It's low," she shouted. OK< thanks, I said, closing my window and then gripping the steering wheel for four miles to the next exit. Now my knuckles hurt. I turned off the music as though I might hear a warning signal before a tire blows.

I pulled into a gas station at the air machine and hopped out of my car. Sure enough, the back tire was very low. Oh, 75 cents for air. I dug in the bottom of my purse for some change, amidst the fuzzy Skittles and Tara's chewed gum in a tissue, and plugged in the money and pumped some air into the tire. There was no gauge to check it, so I just pushed on it with my fingers, like you do with a bike tire. Good grief. I need to check it again before going home today.

So when I got to work a little bit late, I felt like I already used up a whole day. Anyone else ever feel like that?