Winning

This morning I had a morning. You know the kind where nothing goes right?

First, we all slept later than we should have. Particularly on carpool morning. Once a week we drive the neighborhood carpool to high school – it’s a great thing. We only have to drive once a week. But oh the pressure! Four kids cannot be late!! And it makes logistical sense to head straight to work from the high school, so I need to be ready to roll by 7:20 – with my favorite freshman and three neighborhood freshmen, while making sure my other two kids are also on the path toward school. My son has been sick, so I woke him up and took his temperature right before I left, confirmed he too should go to school today, and off we went.

Just as I was dropping off the high school crew, I got a text from my nanny that her car wouldn’t start. So, rather than heading to work, I headed back home and arrived to madness. The printer wouldn’t work – of course it wouldn’t – so my son couldn’t print off his homework. He had gambled on another day off from school – and gambled incorrectly – so he was unprepared. After yelling at him and the printer to no avail, we had to give up on proper homework submittal. My husband was going to take my son to his school, so I grabbed my youngest to drop her off at her school. That’s right. Three schools for three kids. It’s a juggle.

It was now 8:20. If things went relatively perfectly, I would make my 9am meeting on time. By now my hair was damp with rain, my suede boots were spotted with rain spots, and I was annoyed at the world. I was annoyed at traffic. Annoyed at the radio DJs for their annoying banter. I had a slight headache and hoped I’m not next in line for the fever that ran through all three kids this week-end.

But I made it to work – by 9:05. Sorta close. And the meeting I had stressed about making didn’t go as planned – as in, it didn’t happen at all. It was in another building on our campus, so I had to make my way through a maze of a building back to my car to head to my office. I took a few wrong turns in the winding building – because I always do – and amidst my annoyance at my chronically bad sense of direction – I see this written on a whiteboard in a random hallway.

It literally stopped me in my tracks. I took a photo. Mentally wrote this blog in my head. And realized – yes. Absolutely. Today I am winning. And so are you. Because we are on this earth. And we have a full day ahead of us.