I had a busy day ahead of me, so I hopped right out of bed. I got the kids up at 8:30a, got them dressed, fed, then cleaned up again, and headed out the door.
First task of the day - the mall. I had to get a present for our good friend, P, who just graduated from the F.B.I. Academy. I went to Things Remembered to get him a leather travel bag. The girl said it would take about an hour to get the nameplate engraved. "Great," I said, "The mall's gonna love us." I told her thanks and headed out to the van. I was making chicken and dumplings for dinner, and thought I'd go ahead and go across the street to the grocery store to get the items I still needed. As soon as I got to the van, I realized there were perishable items on my list, and I couldn't chance our trip at the mall taking longer than expected, so I headed back into the mall, saving the groceries for later.
We strolled in and out of stores, stopped for a pretzel and lemonade, and enjoyed all the people-watching. We smiled at all the old ladies ooh-ing and ah-ing over the triplets, and went back to Things Remembered to check on our gift. "I'm running behind. It's going to be another 20 minutes or so." So off to continue our people-watching.
My stomach started to turn. Great. The pretzel decided not to agree with my stomach. My bus...I mean stroller, doesn't handle those small stalls so well. Lucky for me, there was a family lounge with an oversized stall just the right fit for us.
It was a bit hairy maneuvering the long stroller into the stall, but we made it. The door kept bumping back into the stroller, and as big as the stall was, it was still a little tight for the kids' liking...so the screaming began. I could hear a sound like a phone ringing and some voices coming out of the alarm box on the wall. I figured one of the kids must've accidentally touched the button, and though I couldn't hear what the person(s) were saying from the intercom, I yelled, "I'm fine! Just trying to go to the bathroom! We're okay!"+
My stomach even worse now after the screaming, the kids finally settled down, and I tried to get down to business.
Banging on the door.
That did it. Now the kids were screaming again.
"Security!"
"I'm fine! Just trying to go to the bathroom! Everyone's fine!"
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Please. I'll be out in a minute!"
Talking over intercom.
It quickly became obvious they weren't going anywhere until I came out. I guess I'm just going to have to be miserable, the business isn't getting done anytime soon.
Long story short...too late...turns out there's a voice activation system in the restroom, in case someone calls for help. Great idea, but I would think in a family lounge, screaming kids wouldn't be so out of the ordinary.
The tall, bleached-out security officer (woman) continued to follow us throughout the mall. No offense to all you mall security personnel out there, but c'mon. Did she think I was abusing my kids? And...she's MALL SECURITY! To top it off, as SA was crying, she said, "She needs a nap." I guess HE needs a haircut. Bitch.
It's lunchtime, and I still have to go to the grocery store. Lovely.
Fast-forward to later in the day...
The kids were playing together quietly. Perfect! Time to start dinner. I put in an Elmo video, hoping it would buy me enough time to wrap everything up (got as much done during naptime as I could). Perfect planning...just didn't work.
The kids were crazy. Not a little crazy...CRAZY. They were getting into the pantry, pulling everything out they could get their hands on. They were spinning the lazy susan, pulling out all the spices - running from me as fast as they could, waving their Nutmeg and Celery Salt in the air - giggling all the way.
I looked over at SJ, he was covered in orange. He had gotten some cheddar-filled crackers out of the pantry and had a gooey, cheddar mess all done the front of his shirt (the F.B.I. shirt that was a gift from P...I should've known not to put it on them until the last minute). Pulled his shirt off, he's going to have to go shirtless. No time.
As the madness continued, I called our friends on their cell phone.
Me: How close are you?
Friend: Just got on XXX.
Me: Shit!
Friend: Time to put P's (new) badge to the test. I'm flooring it! Be there soon!
They got there just in time to save our dinner from being burned to the bottom of the pan. RD got home (finally) and we all sat down to eat. The results...eh...not great. I bought the wrong biscuits for the dumplings, but overall, it wasn't so bad.
We got the kids to bed and sat back for some good, ADULT conversation. It was bittersweet really. We knew this was the last time we'd see P for awhile. His first assignment is in Cleveland - three years. These are friends we are very close to - friends we would see every weekend - friends the kids are very close to. It pains me to think that next time we see him, the kids might not recognize him and run to him as they do now.
As the evening came to a close, we all hugged goodbye, and I fought back tears as I said, "See you soon." It won't be too long really. They're talking of coming back as early as Thanksgiving, so that's not too far away. And though I worry, I know the kids won't forget.
So that was my less than perfect day. Not much different than any other day. I go to bed and let it all go, then wake up the next morning refreshed - naive maybe, as I wake up ready to start it all over again.
