5:20am: Alarm goes off. The only sort of alarm that’s acceptable at that time of day is a fire alarm. But this was an alarm clock. The flight home was at 7am. The only thing burning was my resentment that I wasn’t born with that freakish early bird gene.
6:30am: Sleep walking to gate. Jimi looking like death. Me looking worse. Need coffee.
8:15am: Walking out of airport. Approach car. Notice flat tyre. Call Dad who asks “how flat is it?” I say it’s not that flat. I could drive home.
8:20am: Driving down Alan Mathews Drive, glancing in side mirror. If I see sparks, I’ll pull over.
8.21am: Other motorists are panicking. Motioning for me to pull over. “Oh dear, I wonder what could be the matter?”, I pretend to be surprised in order to save face. I give a thumbs up to indicate that I would check what the problem might be.
8:22am – Call Houston (Dad) and confirm I have a problem. Also call Gen at the office. And for good measure, Mum. Cos why drag only 1 person into the sh*t show when u can have 3?
10ish – Pick up Jed to get him ready for his first day of kinder. Find out Ben didn’t pack everything needed. Stop by home to get critical supplies. Locked myself out of house.
11ish – Stop by supermarket to get as many items as possible, to minimise bad first impression on the responsible adults at kinder.
12pm – Get there on time. Still short on a couple of essentials. Will have to get a spare key, go home, then sneak back without Jed seeing me. I’ve forgotten the code to get in the door, so knocking on the glass like a zombie from Shaun of the Dead. I’m already the most embarrassing parent and Jed’s not even 1 minute into his education journey.
1ish – Tired, frustrated, flustered and badly jonesing for a coffee, I say hi to Gen and Suze, apologise for the flurry of phone calls from the side of Ontario Avenue, and scan my ‘To Do’ list for the most urgent tasks. I’m really needing some zen. Not even coffee zen, but real zen. Then Suze steps in to the office to remind me what’s on tonight … a tree planting in a Buddhist Garden.
7pm – Hello zen!!
Sometimes the universe just delivers.
Childhood trauma stories – there’s a time and a place …
It’s always feels a bit strange being invited to sports events, especially athletics. As a kid I hated athletics almost as much as swimming.
I remember one day in Grade 2, crying on the morning of the inter school sports day, begging mum to please not make me go.
16/01/2022
