Lion and Magic Boy

Well. I’m so glad that’s over.

Did you know that yesterday was deemed the “Most Depressing Day of The Year“? The fact that it was a Monday notwithstanding, with the alarm coming WAY too early as usual, especially since Nathaniel had requested the night before to “wake him up early” (which gave him time to unload the dishwasher! Without being asked! Woot!) (What’s wrong with that boy, anyway?), what was so bad about yesterday anyway?

Did you feel all depressed yesterday?

Me neither.

Huh.

Oh well.

Eric had kind of a depressing day though.

(Except for the walking thing. Which he is totally into now, and will let go of my hand now just so he can do it by himself. That boy is so cool.)

Last Friday, did I mention? No, I think I was in a cave somewhere. Anyway, last Friday the children had a surprise un-school day because they decided to close the school on account of our first snow of the season, a total of about .5 inches. We had no idea of course that the school was closed, and we all got up early as usual, no, extra early, because that was the first day of Nathaniel’s new campaign to torture me with sleep deprivation, and Nathaniel and Serena gathered their lunches (lovingly hand made and hand-packed of course) and backpacks and coats and mittens and hats and shoes, and trotted out to stand around in the “snow” and await the bus at 7:30 (aka “O’ Dark Thirty”). And I got Eric out of his chair, interrupting some very important bagel and oatmeal consumption (Eric doesn’t miss many meals) to climb up on the bench under the window on which Nathaniel doesn’t practice his cello anymore to wave goodbye to his brother and sister.

And we waited.

And waited.

Finally after 15 minutes of waiting I turned on the TV (that thing must be good for something other than watching DVDs of last season’s House, and this season’s Top Chef), and looked to see if the school district their school has chosen to “follow” (not the one we live in or the one who provides the bus service) was having a delay.

Yes. One-hour delay. I am so glad we got up early for this.

I call them back in, everybody takes off hats and shoes and coats, and mittens, setting lovingly hand-packed lunches down and going off down into the basement to play for an hour , which ruined my hopes of writing that morning or at least that hour because I had Eric to deal with (and his breakfast to help him finish).

No problem.

The hour goes by, they all put on their coats and shoes and hats and mittens, grab the lunches, and Eric and I head for the bench under the window.

And we wait.

And they wait outside, Nathaniel and Serena.

The roads seem very quiet.

After only 7 minutes this time (I am learning), I forego the TV entirely and call the school.

“Hi, is there a delay today?” I ask cheerfully.

“No, the school is closed today.”

“But, I never received a call!”

“Oh, we just now decided.” (“Now” was several minutes after the school day normally begins.)

Ah. Which explains the lack of busses in the neighborhood.

I call the children back in and they take off their coats and shoes and hats and mittens and head directly down into the basement to play some more, dashing entirely my hopes of getting any work done at all for the day.

15 minutes later, I receive the automated phone call from the school telling me that it was closed due to “dangerous road conditions”.

Ah. Okay then.

Not long after, the bus arrived.

I’m so glad they have all their communication worked out.

So yesterday, Monday, Eric and of course Nathaniel and Serena had school again. (Eric had been off on Friday and his bus wasn’t even in that equation).

And, of course, we once again awoke to snow. This time not .5 inches, no! .25 inches.

I dutifully checked the TV for sign of a closure, and there was none, so they got on their coats and hats and shoes and mittens, and Eric and I waved goodbye as they got.on.the.bus.

(Eric’s bus comes about an hour after Nathaniel & Serena’s bus.)

So we played, we finished breakfast, we got his shoes and coat and hat on (mittens in the basket along with his snack, lovingly prepared by….uh, the company that puts applesauce in little containers), and the bus came, he got on and waved goodbye to me as usual.

There. Finally I can get some work done!

About an hour later, I get a call from the bus company, which causes my heart to leap through my eyeballs momentarily until they reassure me that everything is fine.

The problem is, though, that the school is closed. They have a 2 hour delay.

What?

Of course I have no knowledge of this, so I get out the parent handbook (should I have read it when I got it, you think?) and see that Eric’s school follows yet another school district in matters of snow.

The bus people said that maybe some teachers would show up at the school in about half an hour, and since the bus was there waiting, it would just wait some more and then see what was going to happen, whether Eric would have school at all (that 2-hour delay pretty much would eat up his entire tme there in one day) or whether the bus would simply bring him back home.

So don’t go anywhere or anything.

Okay.

An hour later, Eric’s bus pulled up, I went in and helped him off, and he just had a look on his face that was like, WTF???!

So if anybody has a reason to feel depressed about yesterday, I think it is Eric, for having to spend over 2 hours strapped to his seat in a little school bus.

But he clearly had a good day yesterday.

So maybe somebody made up the whole depressed thing? I hope so.

[tags]blue Monday, depression, 2007, school bus, snow, Top Chef, House M.D., [/tags]