Monday, September 5, 2011

One Day More

The gym uniforms have been purchased.

The school fees have been paid.

The teachers have been assigned.

And I have absolutely no information about Danny's bus route or pick-up time.  But that's how we roll here in the Chicago Public School system.

Regardless, I have spent the final hours before the first day of school labeling folders, notebooks, disinfectant bottles, and Kleenex boxes. I grumbled along the way.  Why am I sending postage stamps for the third year in a row?  Why so much glue?  How many kids I am covering because CPS knows only a third of the parents will actually buy supplies for their kids?  Is it too late to switch the boys over to St. Cajetan's?

I had to take out a second mortgage for Back-to-School shopping.  
I go through this every year.  Except this time, there is talk of a teachers' strike and I swear to God, if the politicians and teachers' union can't come up with a fair compromise, I'm just going to home-school, dammit.

That was a joke.

I barely survived the summer with these hellions.  If Charles Manson was the principal, I'd still be tossing them all on the CPS bus (should it ever arrive).   While Joey is on "Track E" for school (they go year-round and already started classes), I've had to wait and endure hundreds more Back-to-School celebrity robocalls before finding my peace.  Finally, at long last, I will reclaim a small snippet of the day where I'm not asked to wipe or wash something. 

I've been playing Les Miserables' One Day More consecutively for 18 hours: 

The time is now
The day is here
One day more!

So please, please Chicago.  Don't allow a strike.  Don't take away my only sliver of freedom and tranquility in an otherwise bleak and repetitive life.  Please.  Forget the children...

Do it for the moms.

7 comments:

  1. The bus company should be calling you sometime today. That's how it is going down at my school so I would assume the same goes for your school. Ohhhh wait...what's that saying? When you assume you make an "a##" out of "u" and "me". If I were you, I would just have him at the bus stop anywhere from 6am to 8am. ;) Missy

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  2. Put military dog tags on the boys and tell them to play in the middle of the street. It worked for you guys without a scratch.

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  3. You need to send stamps?! Why? As far as I know, I don't have to send anything tomorrow except my kid and her lunch. That pile of stuff you have to send seems a little much - does the school board not provide for anything?

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  4. Missy - no call. It's a crapshoot - I'm guessing between 6:30 amd and 6:45 am. Here's hoping.

    Anonymous - funny, DAD.

    Skwishee - Yup...STAMPS. And it's not like the kids are practicing mailing letters or anything. That photo represented all the stuff for ONE child - I couldn't fit the entire haul for all 3 kids in a single photo. Is the local fire dept. hiring out by you???

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  5. HAHAHA! I know I've found a mom blogger I can relate to when the last line is "forget the children"! Brilliant, I love it! And cheers to school being in session! You made it!

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  6. Ha! They might be, but you'd have to move to Canada.

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  7. Thanks, Shel!

    Skwishee - we're in!

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