best-laid plans

there are lots of things i'd love to change about myself. i detest broccoli. i procrastinate. (there's a load of dishes in the sink beckoning to me as i write this.) i don't iron as much as i should. but hands down, the biggest problem i have with myself is that i am always, always late.

this, as opposed to many other facets of my personality, i do not come by naturally. both of my parents are always, always early. i remember trying to explain to my mom, unsuccessfully, what "fashionably late" meant. to her, there is nothing fashionable about wasting other people's time. and i do agree. but for some reason, that doesn't make it any easier for me to be prompt. what bothers me the most about my tardiness is how it must affect my children. instead of enjoying a leisurely breakfast and a slow-paced drive to school, our mornings are more often filled with, "come on! find your shoes! we'll go potty when we get there! let's go! let's go! I SAID LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO!" i recognize that this cannot possibly be a healthy way to start a day for a four- and two-year old, yet i constantly find myself falling into the same trap.

today was the first of school for liam. (susanna starts tomorrow.) i've been contemplating my approach all summer, and decided that this was my time to turn over a new leaf. this was to be my Year of Being Early. (okay. i'll be realistic. i'll settle for this being my Year of Being On Time.) last night, i laid out the kids' outfits and packed a snack for susanna, since we'd be running errands after dropping off liam. i made sure they had placed their shoes in the cubbies by the back door like they're supposed to. i even got out the coffee filters and ground the beans. i was feeling great and was oh so proud of myself. pat on the back for sara!

and this morning, my efforts were paying off. we had all eaten our breakfasts, i had cleared the table, and loaded the dishwasher. our hair was combed, we were dressed in unwrinkled clothes, and our teeth were brushed. at 8:53 i went upstairs to grab my cell phone, pleased as punch with myself that we were going to have no trouble at all getting out the door by 8:55. and then ... it happened. i came downstairs to find water all over the kitchen table where i had just been sitting two minutes before. liam and susanna were playing with the fridge magnets -- right under the water spigot, where they love to help themselves to a drink -- but when i asked, they both innocently swore they hadn't spilled anything. since neither of them has ever told a lie, at this point i was perplexed. frustrated, i went over to the table to mop up the spill ... and then was hit in the head by a drop. and then two. and i looked up. staring back at me, almost mockingly, was a leak in the ceiling, which was coming from the floor above, which was, as was discovered later, coming from the master bath toilet.

at this point, it's 8:57. liam is looking at his watch and telling me we were supposed to leave two minutes ago. (the fact that he's telling time and is actually performing subtraction somehow isn't so cute in the middle of a crisis.) chris is inaccessible by cell phone, as he's in training all day. my dad, handyman extraordinaire, is two hours away at the beach. i'm frantically calling our plumber. our home warranty company. even my realtor. why can't i remember where the shut-off valve is???

short story long, i finally got the water turned off and a professional out in the afternoon to fix the problem. i'm not even going to think about the water pressure releaser thingy we need replaced, or even the sheetrocking and painting that will need to be done (see photo). no, i'm thinking that, for the first time in years, i was actually going to be early! i had done my best! my goal was in sight! yet, try as i might, the cards were stacked against me. we rushed through the classroom door ten minutes late -- even later than normal.

i guess this is going to be my Year of Trying Really Hard and Still Falling Just a Bit Short. and maybe A Bit Wet.