First Day of School

I had my alarm set for 7:30 this morning. I figured I’d get up and have a few minutes to myself before I got the kids up at 7:45. That was not to be, however. My schedule was off because I was wide awake at 5:30; since I went to bed at 11:30 my internal clock said six hours was enough sleep and demanded I get out of bed. I did, long enough to make a trip to the bathroom then I went back to bed. I didn’t fall asleep right away, though, which sucked. Then, just before 7:30 Zach burst into my room crying that his shorts didn’t fit right and that he couldn’t get the drawstring tied the right way, and on, and on, and on. Zach’s high-pitched squealing is not what I wanted to hear first thing in the morning.

I had to get up then and help him. I got dressed, got Dolly out of bed, and took care of Zach’s not-so-urgent emergency. Then I discovered that Ty was already downstairs with the television on and he was ready to go to school. He even had his backpack on and wouldn’t take it off, even though it was heavy. Zach was also ready so I took their “first day of school” picture and then texted Paul that the boys were up and ready if he wanted to call them. I told him, last night, what time we’d be getting ready to leave if he wanted to call the boys on their first day. Since they were ready earlier, I figured I’d let him know so he could call if he wasn’t busy at work.


When it was time to go we drove to the school and encountered no traffic whatsoever. With three schools almost in a row I expected there to be some sort of traffic with parents and buses dropping off at each school, or, at least, in the vicinity. When we got to the boys’ school I was afraid I’d gotten the time wrong. There were maybe six or seven families waiting to deliver their children to school. At the boys’ last school there was a line of parents and students on first days and a huge “traffic jam” outside the cafeteria as everyone said their goodbyes. Nothing like that here.

So we get inside and there were some parents there delivering kids to classrooms but we weren’t sure where the cafeteria was for the boys to eat breakfast or if they had to report to their classrooms first. Can I tell you that I was really irritated with the faculty since nobody could tell us what the routine was? After speaking to two different women about it I just decided to walk to Zach’s class and ask his teacher. He knew the routine. We headed off to the cafeteria where the teacher helping the children was sitting on a lunch table bench telling the kids where to put there things, as well as pointing, and then directing them to the food line. Not once did she stand up to speak to them or show them anything. Can we say “lazy,” Miss Teacher? Shit, clerks in supermarkets are supposed to show you where an item is in an aisle. I’m betting she’d be ticked if a clerk just pointed her in the right direction.

Anyway, since nobody could give me the “free and reduced lunch” application the boys are already running a tab. The cashier this morning was polite and explained that all was well; she just wanted me to bring the form back to her so it could be faxed right away. According to the boys, the cashier at lunch was not so polite and told them they each owed $5 tomorrow. Fuck that!! I asked for those applications two weeks ago, it’s not my fault if the district doesn’t have its shit together. The applications did come home with the boys this afternoon and I’ve got them completed. I will personally return them to the office in the morning so they can be faxed right away. In the meantime, they boys will eat breakfast at home and I bought the Lunchables for lunch. That way they don’t run up any more tabs or have any grouchy lunch lady yelling at them.

What I find really funny about the whole breakfast/lunch thing is that, when I dropped the boys in the cafeteria and spoke with the cashier, I went directly to the office to speak to the secretary so I could get the application. Her answer: “We don’t have any right now but they should be sent home with the boys this afternoon. If they’re not, just pack until the applications get here.” Are you fucking kidding me? If I could afford to “pack” everyday I wouldn’t need to sign them up for free meals. Tomorrow is the only day they’ll be bringing their lunch and eating breakfast at home. I’ll make sure the application is approved as I stand in the office. I dealt with this same bullshit back in Independence; I know how to handle the stupids that work the system.

So the day goes progresses with me having my own issues with a doctor’s office receptionist. I’ve got a UTI that I’ve needed treated for two weeks but nobody would see me without my medical plan card or ID number and the plan didn’t take affect until today. I got the number and then had to deal with the moron at the front desk of the office, then I had to deal with the shit at the pharmacy later in the day. After the doctor visit, though, it was time to pick up the boys from school. What a pain in the ass. Two teachers were standing there with about 30 kids behind them and were looking for parents they knew they could match with kids, rather than letting the children tell them when they saw their own parents. Does that make sense? I’ll explain.

The teachers would spot a parent in the crowd and grab the appropriate kids to be matched to the parent. If there was more than one kid in the family that teacher found the other kid(s), making the rest of us stand there looking directly at our own kids but not being able to connect with them. Holy shit!!! Zach was looking right at me and was trying to tell one of the teachers that I was there but the teachers ignored him completely. Then Ty caught up with Zach and neither of them could get the teachers’ attention because they teachers were busy matching known kids and parents and chatting along the way. Get the fuck out of here!! If I’m there and I see my kids, I’m taking them home; I’m not sitting there for ten minutes because these teachers are dense.

All in all, the day was, um, eventful, to say the least. The boys had a good day even though Zach claims not to have met any kids. He says the kids he saw were nice, he just didn’t meet any of them. Oh, and he also sat with some at lunch. Still didn’t meet any, though. That’s Zach for ya. I’m sure things will be better for them tomorrow and they’ll both meet new friends. We also get to meet Dolly’s teacher tomorrow; she’s making a home visit. Dolly is excited but I’m betting dollars to donuts that she hides when the teacher arrives. She hid even when her teachers in Independence made home visits; and she knew them. She’ll be fine, though; then she’ll start school on Thursday and won’t begin going daily until Monday. I can’t wait. I’ll have time to think and figure things out for myself. I need to; I’m stagnating being at home with nothing to do. I don’t know if I can take another year of not working at some kind of job.

For now, though, I’m off to bed. I know it’s early (10:45) but I’m tired and need to lie down. I’m going to read for a while, though, because I don’t want to be up at 5:30 in the morning again. It sucks trying to go back to sleep when I can’t; I don’t even have any good fantasies to keep me company. If it happens again, I’m sure I’ll think of something. I’ll let you know if it’s anything interesting and if it works. Maybe you can try it, too, on those long, sleepless nights. We could start a new trend. Who knows?

Until next time…peace to all.