Everyday Ordinary Supermom
It all started with the fieldtrip. And not just any fieldtrip. Oh, no. The Big! Year End! Trip! The vaguely educational but really just an excuse to run around the park and play in the nifty splashpad trip. I don’t know what possessed me to sign up for yet another fieldtrip this year. Between the library walk that took place in a torrential downpour and the train that backed up, leaving me trapped in a tin can full of hyper seven year-olds for a millisecond longer than infinity, I think I’ve done my time.
Yet, there I was a 9 am, boarding the bus with a horde of overexcited first and second graders and a few other suckers…uh, parents. Aside from a serious caffeine withdrawl on my part, the trip to the park wasn’t too bad. School buses are always noisy; it’s the nature of the beast. But it wasn’t unbearably so. The kids were excited, but in that restrained way that characterizes the start of a trip when the threat of missing out due to bad behaviour still looms large. The trip home? Not so much. The trip back home was characterized by an unbridled enthusiasm for the day’s events, coupled with a laissez faire, “what’s the worst that could happen now?” vibe. The ride home was “The Wheels on the Bus,” and “Jingle Bells,” and god help me, “The Song That Does Not End.” All sung at top volume by 60 some odd children and amplified by the fabulous acoustics of the tin can on wheels.
In between, there was a field trip. There were Science activities (”When are we going to the splash pad?” “Can I have a snack?” “I wanna go on the climbers!”) There was a picnic lunch (or, more accurately, a Lunchable picnic). And then, finally there were activities–Climbers and Animals and Splash Pad, oh my! I only had to climb to the top of the giant spider web twice to rescue stranded children, and Diva Girl only dissolved into tears once when she wasn’t awarded line leader status based on the fact that her mom was the mom in charge (I’m so mean!), so all in all I’d say the day was a success. Exhausting, and stressful in the way that being responsible for someone else’s children always is, but all in all a great day.
A day that, much like that damned song, seemed destined to never end. Because after the fieldtrip, there was The Summer Sizzler–Sabrina’s school bbq fundraiser. Had I realized earlier these two events were on the same day, I never would have signed up to work at this event Of course, then I never would have discovered a hidden talent for spinning candy floss.
How many moms does it take to run the cotton candy booth? Well, if it’s the booth I was working at, 3. One to take the tickets, one to handle the sticks and push the button, and one to do the actual spinning. Which is not as easy as it looks. After two and a half backbreaking hours spent bent over a a hot drum of spinning sugar, I have a whole new respect for carnies.
I was also covered in the the sticky pink fluff–not eactly the casual yet put together look I generally try for at school functions. I was a little embarrassed by my turn as Flossie the Candy Monster until I looked around at a gym filled with children holding cotton candy sticks and heard my daughter proudly telling a group of her friends, “My Mom made that you know.” That made the whole long day worthwhile.
Some days in motherhood are just a long slog of getting it done. Some are magical. When I got up this morning thinking about everything else I had on the go this week and how this day was essentially wasted, I thought this was going to be a grit your teeth and bear it kind of day. Instead, it was a reminder of how wonderful it can be to just surrender to the rhythm of motherhood sometimes.