Tools of the Trade

Every trade has its tools. Every worker relies on these tools to complete their jobs. Carpenters have hammers and drills, painters have easels and brushes, I, as a stay at home mom, have my own tools of the trade.

Meet Jose.

Dodge Durango, Gas Guzzler, Carrier of Cargo, Deliverer of Children.

The boys named him Jose. He may be big, but he’s a city-car, not a commuter. We mosey about in Jose and he rarely ventures more than 20 minutes away from home base.I rely on Jose. A lot. More than I want too, lately.

He’s a very important tool in my trade. Without him, there would be no summer half-day sports camps, cello lessons, theater classes or trips to the resevoir, the dog park, ice cream shops, coffee stops and general errand-running that include boring things like well, groceries, appointments and dull trips to the hair-cut place.

The thing is, this tool is great, but lately, I've had to use it. A lot. And it's tiring. Oh drop Drama off at Cello, drop the boys off at their camp only to turn around and pick up Drama again and then get the boys, because the times are staggered so that there's only an hour between each class. Then there's the errands, the appointments and the things I need to get done between the morning chauffering and the afternoon chauffering, because yep, Drama has theater and Turbo has swimming and Mom has discovered that all these 'things' mean she spends more time getting in and out of the vehicle than she does doing anything else. Think of it. Two four-year-olds, a spastic 7-month-0ld puppy and an eleven-year-old. Just getting into the truck takes 20 minutes.

I actually left the house this morning before my husband left for work. This of course, was an adjustment. I had to show him how to lock the door. He's never actually worked the mechanism before.

And it's not going to get better.

Which is why from July 11 to August 18th (the first day of school) Mom and Jose are going on their own personal shortened vacation, and the children will be stuck doing what most of us did when we were kids in the summer: whining about how bored they are. I figure it's the perfect time. Summer camps will be out, and we can focus on the REALLY FUN THINGS like painting Drama's room, reading some good books, and shopping for Back To School Clothes. There will be one month of No Organized Events Unless Related to Back To School shopping.

This sounds awful to some parents, but to me and Jose? It's four o' clock Coronas on the common green time.

I figure it's JUST enough of 'doing nothing in the summer' time to make school appealing.

Not that I'm counting the days down or anything like that.... not yet anyhow!