Not Quite a Routine

Ahhh, new year!  Back to the grind right?   The glory that is routine!

Not exactly.

It was back to work and school on Monday, and Tuesday we were hit with what was only forecasted to be a dusting of snow but ended up being a couple of inches.  This really was a big deal all by itself, but our school district decided to be arsehats and not even call for a delay of a couple of hours while the snow was still coming down, just to see how things would shake out.  I couldn’t get to work because the roads in my ‘hood were so bad.  #grownupsnowday #therewerespikeddrinks #therewasfleece #therewasnetflix

Well the shake out was that kids who did make it to school were late because buses were sliding all over the roads.  Our county became a twitter trending topic as parents *went in* on school officials for being dipsticks, and schools were delayed or closed the rest of the week as temperatures dipped into the teens.

So what does that mean for a dynamic duo who needs desperately to get back on schedule?

It means we’ve been cautiously white knuckling it and clinging to those elements of our routine that were untouched by the weather mayhem.We managed to retain some important routines that allowed for few meltdowns.

Evenings have been the same. Homework, dinner, puppy fun.

Mornings a tad more leisurely.  Workouts for me, more sleep for her.

Office and school schedules on site were wonky.

But now I’m going away for the weekend for some ABM Time, and Hope ain’t feeling that, not one bit!

Essentially Hope’s response was something like, “Um, we didn’t even have a normal week and you’re still going on your trip?  This isn’t even a work trip!  You just want to get away from me!  Why come you gotta leave me??? Did you know there’s supposed to be an ice storm on Monday?”

<sigh + eyeroll>

Wait, what ice storm?

Dammit!!!!  That means next week’s schedule will be all jacked up too??? Urgh!

Although I don’t believe I owe Hope an explanation, I recognize that sometimes my going away causes anxiety and I haven’t been away overnight in a few months, and she’s used to the reason being work-related.   New year, new stuff.

So I explained just like I explained why we have sitters/nannies/minders so that I can have some refresh time and that I will be a better mom when I get back.

She didn’t seem to really buy it, but she accepted it.

And as much as I intend to rest and enjoy some grownup time, I suspect I’ll be spending some mom energy trying to figure out how to construct a backup structure for us.  My plan B game was weak this week, so I need to get my game face on and figure that out and stat.

A few more snow days, and I might fear an emotional avalanche.