Scenes from my morning:
Desperate attempt to sleep in after going to bed at 1.33pm.
6/05am - Alarm goes off, Tim gets up to wake boys, forgets to turn off alarm.
Set alarm for 8.30am.
The dog has a seizure on my bed.
Clomp downstairs to take dog out, dog and I run back up, jump back into bed, invite sleep into my closed eyes. Maintain foetal position trying to regain warmth of bed from a few minutes' before.
Tim, from bottom of stairs: "I think you'll have to take me to work Anne, because I have to take the car in to the garage and I can't find a ride.. I have to be there by 8.30 for a meeting..."
Clomp downstairs and pull on clothing, there are about 4 flies in the bathroom and I have no idea where they are coming from. Kill two but two evade me. Swear at flies and the world in general and drive off to pick up Tim at garage. Offer Tim to be driver of car, but he doesn't take it up. Drive car along backroads to Tim's work, Tim telling me the contents of a reputable magazine article surrounding the not-so-pious Taliban and things that they get up to. Wonderful topic of conversation.
But the day did get better and reached a zenith in the middle. My oldest American friend Mary and I went to beautiful Rockport, had lovely lunch, amazing conversation, wonderful shopping afterwards, all for my birthday treat! She bought me a top and a long cardigan which are possibly two of the most beautiful pieces of clothing I have ever owned. She said Joan (my mother) would have approved.
I had just recently met Mary when my mother and father came to visit that very first year we lived in Winthrop. They were already in their 80's, and made their brave way across all those oceans to visit us in our strange and difficult first year in another country. I had decided to invite Mary to tea, and my mother took her aside when I was out of the room, asked her what she thought of "Our Anne" and told her she hoped we would be friends. Practically ordered her to be!
It was the luckiest thing, us meeting them, as they are like extended family now, Mary having even stood in as the boys' grandmother on several "Grandparents Days" at their elementary schools, when she would come and examine all their work on exhibit, then treat them to lunch, just like a grandmother would have done! She and Jim also always spoiled the boys with all the "forbidden fruits", ice-cream, soda, KoolWhip, (synthetic cream which is utterly disgusting but which little boys seem to love) and other amazing treats. They gave the boys a GPS system for their car for their 18th birthday, before we had even bought the car! So that they would never get lost, her dear boys!
Later, the day plummeted downhill again. I had to go to school for a Back to School Night, where the parents come and sit in their childrens' desks, and the teachers rush around to each classroom where they have 10 minutes in which to tell about their subject. Only they put Art, Theatre and Music together so that we three teachers each have about 3 minutes to give out our handouts, then say a little spiel.
The best times are in the corridors outside with all the other waiting teachers, telling stories, gossiping, laughing at the fact that we all have to drive all the way home, go to bed, then get up tomorrow morning and drive all the way back in time to teach!
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