Get your shoes on, please.
Get your shoes on.
GET YOUR SHOES ON!
I was nearing my wits’ end and the day had barely begun. I had not even had my coffee yet. Maybe that was part of the problem. What is it about the last 5 minutes of getting the kids out the door that can turn an uneventful morning into pure chaos? It’s as though someone enters the house to suddenly stir up a massive argument between my three- and six-year-olds. They also somehow take away the ability for my kids to put on their coats, find their own shoes and open a door.
We go from zero to sixty fast.
By the grace of God, we get buckled into the car. But that isn’t without either an argument over who sat in their seat the quickest (because, you know, everything is a contest) or tears ensuing because one of them hit their head on something.
It’s about at this point that I just try to breathe. Whether it’s a school day and I still have a long workday ahead after I drop off the kids or a weekend and have hours of play dates, birthday parties or some combination along with a slew of housework waiting for me, I give myself a little pep talk.
I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
I pep talk myself all the way to Starbucks where I sometimes literally brace my hands on the steering wheel as I creep through the drive-thru. It’s about this time that one of my kids “accidentally” hits the other or decides to dangle a shoe out the window throwing me straight into mean mommy mode.
This is why God created drive-thrus; so that moms could contain the craziness in the car and not subject the innocent non-kid-rearing public to it.
Coffee in hand, I now feel like I can face the day and maybe be a little less of a mean mommy.
Regardless of the destination, getting there on certain days feels like a huge accomplishment. Do you ever arrive to work in the morning and feel like you’ve already had an entire day of events happen but really it was just the task of getting kids off to school?
I am not sure at exactly what ages my kids will be when this will become easier. When getting out the door won’t involve such chaos. When I can drive them somewhere without having to break up fights. Until that day arrives – if it ever actually arrives – I will continue to keep my kids contained in the car while picking my daily caffeine.
Because God created drive-thrus for moms. I am convinced.
