I have always been very sensitive to the plight of the single parent. When I know that one of the parents in the community is a single parent, I always go out of my way to be the one to drive places, not asking the single parent to drop my kid off or pick their kid up from my house. I know, at some level, that they deal with stresses and difficulties that I just don’t have to deal with.
At least not on a daily basis.
This week, however, I am a temporary single parent. My husband is traveling with his Dad and that leaves me with the boys. Now, granted, my boys are 12 and 15. Not so hard. Except that they both have baseball every day, games or practices, in two different places but mostly at the same times. Meanwhile, I have a job, a career actually, that is in high gear. I am blessed with friends and neighbors who are helping out, but holy cow!
This afternoon my 15 year old sent me an IM that informed me that he has to build an air car for a project that is due….drum roll please….you guessed it….tomorrow! I get this while I’m at work, feeling lucky that both baseball games were canceled, but NO! Now I’m feeling the pressure to come through. Actually I’m fighting myself, part of me wants to say, “Too bad, dude! You should have told me this before! You knew about this before today. You’re just screwed!” But the part of me that wants to kick ass and get stuff done this week, all on my own, was on the phone to the nearest hobby store to see how late they were open.
We made it there at 5:45, they close at 6:00. And we bought the last propeller kit they had in stock. We then bought some wheels and the little do-hickies that go with the wheels and some rubber bands and we were on our way. Then it was back to the house to try to find a body for the car and then put it all together. It was a great bonding experience for us. We figured it out together. Thank goodness that tomorrow is only a “first run” trial because although the thing is put together and all of the parts move, the damn car doesn't’t move when you wind it up.
But then if it were perfect the first time around, what would he have to learn in class tomorrow?
Mission complete. Project done. Dinner cooked. Homework done. Kid #1 in bed. Kid #2 watching the Cuba vs. Japan baseball game with me while I blog this.
The sun will come out, tomorrow!
TAGS: air car, Single Parent, Science Project
If my hubby is even an hour late from work I begin to unravel. I don't know how people cope alone!
I have the greatest respect for single parents, my mum was one, and I really wonder how she did it!
Posted by: Lisa | March 21, 2006 at 03:22 PM
God bless you for thinking of us single parents... seriously. I wish some of the mom's in Turtle's class would remember that not all of us have the luxury of being able to stay at home.
Posted by: Snidget | March 21, 2006 at 05:17 PM
Not easy at all. I do a lot of single parenting with a self-employed husband.And I hate it.I am no good at the projects.
Posted by: Margaret | March 21, 2006 at 09:13 PM
A journalist is born: he obviously needs to work on deadline.
My wife's going to love leaving this entry. We go through this with our 11-year-old son every once in a while. Because we don't have enough gray hair yet!
Posted by: Carmi | March 22, 2006 at 06:16 AM