Things were going fine. The girls were packing their new school bags with indoor shoes, hand sanitizer, extra hand sanitizer and hand sanitizer cases that look like baby animals. Yep, that should be all of the supplies they’ll need for a successful year at school.
Walking around our house the day before school starts is a bit like dodging landmines post-war. It’s only a matter of time before you step on the squeaky piece of hardwood when someone’s scream shakes the earth from under you, “I only have EIGHT mechanical pencils???”
I know this is somehow going to be my fault. I take it from the “only” part of that cry that eight is simply not enough mechanics and/or pencils for the first day of school.
Treading lightly I respond, “Well do you have enough hand sanitizer?”
Long, angry pause.
“Mom, you only got me EIGHT mechanical pencils?”
In fairness, I don’t remember buying any mechanical pencils so that’s eight more than I knew existed.
Also, how did I go forty years without knowing what a mechanical pencil is? Is this the reason I didn’t excel at math?
“Well how many mechanical pencils do you think you’ll need the first day? More than eight?”
Chloe who begged for ankle socks is screaming about why she can’t pull them up higher than her ankles. She comes out of her room to demonstrate her frustration by pointing at her ankle, then the sock and then at the floor. This might be her pointing at the earth below us as in, you’re going to hell for buying me ankle socks, Mom but that may be a stretch. Yes, remember we discussed the strange length in the store when you “had to have” those ankle socks?
Someone who thought that novelty calculator at the store would be the perfect fit for her lifestyle is finding it is not the perfect fit for the pocket in her backpack reserved for novelty calculators and is on the verge of a major explosion.
Doors are slamming. I can see clothing options that were earlier laid out on beds tossed into the hallway. It’s going to be just a black cloak and white face paint from this day forward and it’s all because of the lack of mechanical pencils.
Good luck at school today parents. Welcome to your Goth years.
What were your back-to-school meltdowns.
