Late Start

I woke this morning to the sounds of my middle-son's clock-alarm going off down the hall. After a few minutes I was able to sit up and focus my eyes on my clock. It was 5:15 a.m. I laid back down and rested for a bit, until 6:00 a.m.

I went about my morning routine. I took Sumter out for a pee and then down to Colin's room. The door was open a crack; enough for me to see. His alarm was going off and playing static ocean sounds. I could see books and papers scattered about on the sofa. Colin was asleep on the giant stuffed dog behind the couch.

I let Sumter in to give his usual morning greeting,  to which Colin replied, "Get out!" Up we went and I fed the pup his breakfast and took him for his morning jaunt around the block. Upon our return, I checked in with middle-son to see if his brother was awake and getting ready. I was told that he had an agreement with Colin about what time he needed to be ready to leave. My high-school senior is taking morning classes at a nearby college and needed to leave no later than 6:45 a.m. to be able to drop Colin at school on the way to first class.

I performed another check on Colin. The light was on and I was warned to "Go away!"

Driving Mr. Colin

At 6:45, I heard the warning, "Come on Colin, I am leaving!". After another couple of attempts, my driver took off, leaving his surly younger brother behind. I sprung into action. I made plans with hubs, who was still in bed, to take Sumter to daycare so that I could go in the opposite direction to drop off Colin. I then proceeded to finish getting ready for work while Colin shouted, "Hurry up! We need to leave in five minutes!"

I found it ironic, more like hypocritical, that while I was finishing getting ready, my son kept yelling at me to hurry up, as if he was ready to rush out the door. Only he wasn't even close. He rushed upstairs to brush his teeth, still barking orders. Then back down stairs, scurrying about and gathering up his supplies for the day.
We ended up being ready to leave about the same time. I was ready to give a lecture and stopped myself. No good would come of this, so instead I remained silent.

I started the car, turned off the radio and asked, "Do you have everything?" to which the answer was , "Yes! LET"S GO!"

And off we went! I may have taken a few corners a bit faster than prudent and accelerated more quickly than usual. As I could hear things sliding about the back of the car, I'm pretty sure I made it clear that I WAS hurrying and did not need any more reminders.

We made good time and arrived at school at 7:20 a.m. As I pulled up to the drop-off, I held my breath and was prepared for one last barrage. I pushed the button to open the side door and Colin collected his things. Before he left, he said. "Could you please wake me up next time?".

I said, "Sure. What time?" and he replied, " Around 5:00 ish".

"Sure!" I answered back as I closed the door and took off.

I took a deep breath and adjusted my perspective. My son ASKED for help. This is about as close to a "Thank You" as I was going to receive. To which I am grateful.

As always....We are a work-in-progress!