coming up for air

Happy Saturday to everyone who is reading.

I am still treading water but did manage to come up for some air.

This week was super hard and I blame the YMCA. Important note: the YMCA in our town is for aftercare, the YMCA where we go swimming and I lift weights is a different YMCA in the next town over.

Our town YMCA has screwed me SO BAD last week.

On Monday night my husband emailed them asking “hey, where should our kids go for their aftercare?” The email we received back was “oh but aftercare does not start till next week, September 14th.”

WHAT.

It was the first week of school for my kids and my husband already scheduled his business trip. My teaching job is not flexible. And, no aftercare.

You would think that perhaps, just perhaps, aftercare would start when school starts, no?…

AND. The YMCA happily deducted $672 from our account on September 1st. For the whole month of September. AND. We never received ANY notification about the fact that aftercare starts on 09/14.

I was infuriated. I was rage-vomiting. I was cursing them left and right. I was crying. Because, WHO does that to working parents? I know it wasn’t personal but I took it very personally. I felt blindsided – the YMCA really screwed me. Forget the fact that I couldn’t exercise and didn’t really have any time to myself, that’s not such a big deal. It’s the MENTAL pressure that I could not take.

Thankfully. Our neighbors, who have the twin girls that my daughter is friends with, came through for us. They picked my kids up at school and delivered them to their house. Then I arrived home 30 minutes later and got them from their house.

I don’t want to rehash this past week but, at the same time, I do.

Monday – no school, labor Day. Family photos with my husband’s recording equipment.

Tuesday: my kids’ first day of school! T dropped them off, my neighbor picked them up. I got out of our faculty meeting (principal was understanding since she has kids of same ages as mine) and came home earlier than usual (but not early enough for dismissal). Still went to jiu jitsu in late afternoon.

Wednesday: kids=school, me=work, T dropped them off in the morning. Neighbor picked up. I rushed home after work, then to the YMCA for archery. Turns out, L cannot do archery without having taken a “safety” workshop. So, a safety workshop in October and archery classes in October-November-December at the Y (a different Y, not the one that screwed us over).

Thursday was tragic. T had an overnight trip so I dropped off the kids at their school at 7:10. R started crying when he got out of the car, because there was nobody at the school. Doors locked. Some lights on. Some lights off. A playground behind the school (that’s where I told them to wait). My heart was breaking with guilt.

Why such early drop off… My job is not flexible and my first class starts at 7:45. From 7:10 to 7:45 is just about enough time to get to work so that I am not late. The kids only had to wait till 7:30, until their school opens its doors. So around 20 minutes. They later told me that a teacher opened the door for them before 7:30 and L stated “our mom dropped us off earlier because she has to go to work.” Nobody called DYFS.

Ultimately, it was fine but what will happen in winter when it’s dark at 7:10AM and cold?… I also am going to get my daughter a flip dumb phone and program my and my husband’s numbers into it. Also, my kind neighbor and twin mom.

Friday my husband was back (actually, Thursday night) so he dropped the kids off.

Now that the week is behind me I can exhale. But the anxiety is still there.

A note on what we ate/things I made :

the Balkan salad is very similar to a Russian cucumber salad. Essentially, it’s cucumbers, yoghurt, scallions, red onion, a little garlic, and dill. It also has honey and toasted walnuts. Delicious.
Baba ganoush. The smoky eggplant and tahini paste. Loved it.
A canned soup one night “Chicarina” – good enough for union work.
Oven-roasted chicken strips, peas, brown rice.
Tacos with fixings on Tuesday.

I could not go to the gym because there was no aftercare.

I didn’t really clean anything. Except the kitchen. The kitchen was tidied up every night so that I wouldn’t wake up to a really messy kitchen. I woke up to a kind of messy kitchen.

I started showering AT NIGHT! I would give myself a really nice scrub down in the evening including hair. Then just put my work clothes on in the morning. That saved me a lot of time.

I read with the kids and I read when they went to bed.

Camera roll from last week, however, reveals some very good moments, despite of what you read above: