I Mom-Failed So Hard Today

I had a whole other article planned for my comeback, but this morning's events were too "eventful" not to share.

If there was a club called Mom Failers Anonymous, I would nominate myself for president today, and my election speech would go something like this:

"Hi, my name is Courtney, and I'm a repeat mom-failer. Today, I totally forgot my son had a field trip."

When I realized what I had done, this happened internally:

OK, so that might not sound so bad, right? And you're thinking, so what? He got to school on time, right? But no. It wasn't just any 'ol field trip. They were going to the lo'i (taro patch). That means knee-deep (or more!) in mud, requiring a towel, change of clothes, and not to mention he needed to be wearing his school shirt and tennis shoes to get on the bus in the first place. Here we are, showing up in a long-sleeved shirt and sweat pants! Luckily, he prefers to wear sneakers to school every day already, so we had that covered. Also working in our favor was that we were ahead of our usual schedule and got there 10 minutes earlier than our normal time - which just so happened to be the time we were told to be there by. Thank goodness!

So, panic sets in as I try to figure out how to solve this problem and Kea is on the verge of tears, thinking he's going to miss the bus and the field trip. The only thing I can think to do is to yank him out of the car, run him to his classroom, and hope the bus isn't coming for 30 minutes so I can run home and grab his things. And then it was like a scene from the movie, I swear. As we're running to class, I run into my mom-friend and tell her, "I forgot his shirt!" And she goes, "Here, I have my son's extra! Take it!" And it was like this magical slo-mo, Sports Center-worthy, NFL hand-off, as she passes me the shirt, and I start changing Kea's shirt while running.

We make it to class and I thought, "A-ha! He has a change of clothes in his cubby!" So I dig out a pair of shorts, have him change, and he's ready to go! I still didn't have a towel, and of course, I JUST took out two beach towels from my car this weekend. Grandma, who was chaperoning the field trip unfortunately didn't have one in her car either, but my other mom-friend was willing to share hers.

You'd think with my third child, I would have figured out this scheduling and remembering thing a little better!

But man, what a morning! And I couldn't have gotten through it without other supportive mothers, who could relate to my moment of panic and were willing to pitch in. And I realized we probably can't get through a lot of motherhood without a community of mothers who have all been in our shoes and are willing to help each other - mothers like me, who have bad mornings, who forget picture day (also happened this school year a.k.a. Mom Fail #543), who forget that homework assignment (several times), and who are running late (story of my life). That old adage, "it takes a village to raise a child," rings true every time. As best you can, surround yourself with a village that is willing to do the hard work with you, who loves you and your children for their quirks, and who won't judge you on your worst of days. I surely do enough judging of myself as it is. And I know I sound hard on myself, but it's only out of my desire to be the best mom I can be...and to make my kids think I have it all together!