The Longest Moment of Last Week

Time is relative, isn't it? I'm not talking about complicated science and math theories. I'm talking actual time. Like when your kid asks for a snack and you say "just a minute" but ten minutes later he's still hungry and you're still playing Candy Crush.

Or when you're waiting in line for the bathroom, and your daughter says she'll be done "in just a sec" but you're still doing a little shimmy five minutes later.

It's messed with my ability to gauge time. I have a hard time deciding how long a car trip will take and what time we should leave. If we leave too early, the kids will have wait time and get antsy before the event. If When we leave too late, we'll be...late.

Sometimes time seems to stop completely and you are caught in a moment when you can't move or speak and you can't fix what's happened. You just don't know how to react.

This is exactly what happened to me last week. We had a lot of things scheduled, but I had them all in my calendar and in my head:

Monday-Violin concert for Frances 

Tuesday-Soccer practice for the boys

Wednesday: First Communion Rehearsal for Henry..NO WAIT! That's Tuesday!! OK, got that figured out on Monday, so everything is ok.

Thursday- Spring Showcase for Henry at school

Friday-Frances' Dance rehearsal

It was Thursday night and I sat down for what I thought was going to be a brief moment of peace after the kids had gone to bed. I took a deep breath and snuggled in to my corner of the couch. I flipped open my iPad and pulled up Facebook to see what important things were going on, and I saw this:

Surely I was reading something wrong because Frances' rehearsal was on Friday night...RIGHT?!?! I panicked and jumped up from the couch. Where was the paper with instructions so I could verify this?? Why can't I find one single piece of paper amidst all these scraps of permission forms and end-of-year announcements?!

Tweet This: Both the digital calendar and the calendar in my head had failed me!"

Tweet

I tried another tactic. I jumped online to look it up. Ms. Cindy had said before that the info was on the city website. Of course, when you're in panic mode nothing loads fast enough and if felt like an hour before I came across the page I was looking for. Scan, scan, scan...Where is it!?!

I finally found what I was looking for and all time stopped. We. had. missed. rehearsal. I started to cry. In that moment I felt like the absolute worst mother in the history of mothers. How did this happen!?! I managed to get back over to Facebook and send a message to Ms. Cindy. I apologized profusely and explained that is was all my fault. I was afraid to ask what this meant, because I knew the rule "No rehearsal=No Performance."

I could see through the Facebook spies that Ms. Cindy had been "active 12 minutes ago." I waited for what seemed like an hour for her response. In that time all sorts of scenarios and emotions went through me. I felt stupid. I was angry at myself. I was ticked at that beautiful melon colored dress we'd bought that would never get worn.

And finally the response came: "Yes. It was tonight. Don't worry.  Concert is on Saturday.  Dancers arrive at 6:15. Show starts at 7."

And all was right with the world again.

Have you had a recent moment of panic?

This post was part of the One Word Blog Linkup hosted by, Janine of Confessions of a Mommyholic, Marica of Blogitudes, and Lisa of The Golden Spoons! This week, the word prompt choices were Crazy & Moment.