It was around 10:00 AM when I got a text from Avi, who was at school. Here’s what she said, “Will you please pick me up? I really don’t feel like being at school.”

Really.

This presented some interesting thoughts. First, why was she texting me from school? In fact, why do my children text me all day from school? Don’t they need to be learning and listening to their teachers? Secondly, did she really think I would drop whatever I was doing and race to school to get her? Does she think I don’t have anything to do except wait for her to text me orders? Let’s not answer that.

We all have things we don’t want to do, but we suck it up. We show up, with a smile on our faces, and we do whatever it is we need to do. Do I really feel like cleaning the kitchen, running errands, or paying bills? That’s just life.

You can bet we had a fun conversation when I picked her up from school. Don’t you just WISH you could have heard our conversation? It went something like this:

Me: “Avi, why did you send me that text message?”

Avi: “Because I really didn’t want to stay at school. I wanted to come home and watch movies and hang out with you.”

Me: “But, you can’t just leave school just because you don’t feel like it.” And then the lecture started. And it didn’t stop. Because if there’s anything I’m really good at, it’s lecturing my children. I’m especially good at long monologues containing a plethora of information that mostly gets ignored. But once I start, there’s no stopping me. Unless Jon’s around. And sadly for Avi, he wasn’t when I pick her up from school.

Avi: “OK. I get it. Sorry. I just thought I’d try.”

Wow. That was her reasoning. “I thought I’d see if you would pick me up. I didn’t think you would, but you can’t blame me for asking.”

Hm. She’s pretty smart, that one. Too bad she isn’t graded on Mommy manipulation. She’d get an “A” for sure in that class.

Find meaning each day,

Dara