I ruined my youngest daughter’s whole day last Wednesday. I made her go to school even though it was a late arrival day, even though most of the school was gone to the parade for the Seahawks in Seattle, even though the bus was five minutes late getting to the stop, I still made her go to school.
First, let’s get something clear: Although we did step out of our normal TV zone to watch the Seahawks win the Superbowl, in general, we are not sports fans. We were never going to go to the parade in downtown Seattle. I wouldn’t have gone on a warm day, much less 21 degrees in the sun, not to mention the wind chill.
There had been sub school bus drivers for the past couple days. It’s not unusual for subs to be late, but my daughter was hoping the bus wouldn’t show up at all. She was under some impression that had the bus not shown up I would say, “No bus? How will you ever get to school now? I’ll
just take you home.”
I started getting texts during first period. I will recap them for you:
Daughter [9:27]: Apparently that’s our new bus driver. He’s British
Me [9:28]: What happened to the old one?
Daughter [9:28]: I dont know
Me [9:30]: Did he tell you he’s permanent and to forgive him if he ends up driving down the wrong side of the street?
Daughter [9:33]: Yes. Also there are 9 other people in first period today [Ah! The real reason she started texting me].
Daughter [9:34]: All the math teachers are at the parade
Me [9:35]: Oh well. The classes are only 20 min long. You’ll live.
Daughter [9:38]: I don’t know who im going to sit at lunch with
Me [9:38]: Isn’t friend 1 there?
Daughter [9:39]: Yeah but we dont have the same lunch because im in gym
Me [9:40]: Can you stay in the Japanese room like your sister used to?
Daughter [9:41]: Lunch is with 3rd period [instead of 4th period like on non-late start days]
Me [9:42]: What is it you want me to do?
Daughter [9:44]: Nothing. If friend 2 is here ill sit with her.
Me [9:45]: Sorry for your pain. You can add it to your future therapy tab.
Daughter [9:46]: I will
Daughter [9:56]: Friend 2 is here so there’s no therapy bill for today.
Me [9:58]: Whew. Another mean mom makes her kid go to school. You know this is my next column, right?
This wasn’t the last word. She went on to text “Well, I mean its kinda pointless since we’re not doing anything educational anyways? So what’s the point?”
I do have to agree with her on that one: late arrival day, 20 minute classes, most of the kids are gone. But it’s the principle of the thing. It’s still a counted school day. It was nice for the teachers who didn’t go to the parade to have a few students in class regardless of whether they learned anything and since we were never going to the parade in the first place, it’s not like she’s missed out on what some of the 750,000 people in Seattle were calling a once-in-a-lifetime, historic event.
It ended up that all her teachers were at school, but few students. I suspect most student were absent not because they were at the parade, but because they assumed no one would be at school. She probably could have stayed home.
But now my daughter has a story to mark that once-in-a-lifetime, historic event: “My mother made me go to school.”
Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. She is committed to texting through her daughter’s angst. You can also read more of her writing and her daily blog on her website livingwithgleigh.comor on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh.” Her column is available every week at maplevalleyreporter.com under the Lifestyles section.
