I Am Now One of *"THOSE"* Parents...

Before you even read this post, I will tell you there is some language...can't help it today, it's how I felt at the time and I want to tell the story how it really happened...soooo, yeah...it includes cursing. You have been warned! 

Wow...all I can say is...WOW! And shake my head as I sit here to write this. I always said that there was no way--as in no way in HELL!--that I would ever be one of *'THOSE'* parents. No way! Not me! Can't happen. Well folks, I'm here to tell ya...it CAN happen, and it can totally happen to you!! 'Cause it sure as hell happened to me. AND I am so hugely embarrassed to tell y'all about this, but I hope that by doing so I can help you not panic..and completely freak out...and have a total 3-year-old meltdown like I did. (And today, this has nothing to do with autism.) I so could have used one of these:

**FULL DISCLAIMER: What I am about to tell you was totally not funny at the time, but now that I have had time to process and live through it and everything, I actually find it a little funny. I have to look for the humor in these situations, because...well...honestly, if I don't laugh about it, I'm gonna cry about it. And crying about it leads to those little temper tantrums and a very unhappy mommy. And besides, isn't laughing a lot better than crying?? So, just thought I should put that out there for ya. If you don't like to laugh, my page probably isn't for you...just sayin'. Sooo...SMILE and be happy y'all!

OK, so I know you're wondering what could be so bad. I'm stalling...I know. But the ONE thing in this world that I swore to myself I would never do...I did. Its terrible. I FORGOT MY KID. There I said it...*sigh*. Holy CRAP!! I ACTUALLY FORGOT MY KID!! Poor Ressie...I forgot her at her pre-school. *Shaking my head* I am so ashamed. I totally panicked. I called her school--and then I lied on top of everything else!! I lied and told them I had a flat so that I didn't have to actually admit that I FORGOT MY OWN CHILD! A cloud of shame will follow me 'Pig-Pen'-style for a while for this one. WOW! And so, here's the story:

I was having a great day! Went and did my first Zumba video this morning with the bestie. Now when I say 'did', I mean 'watched'. Because we are so terrible at working out, we had to actually sit and watch the how-to section at the beginning of the video to see how hard this was going to be. And we did so while we were happily lounging on the couch drinking coffee and laughing at the totally hot Zumba girls making everything look so damn easy! Really?! Gah!! Grr...anyways, that's a whole other topic. So we watched, and decided we could go on, and the next morning we had 'work-out time', we would actually get up and do the steps they were showing on the video (small steps, right?). So ok, work-out, check *wink*.

So then I go to meet up with another autism mom from Big T's Buddies and ride down the road a little ways to meet up with a mom who is new to our group. This was the first time I had met the new mom, and I was excited and so was my friend. We get there and everything is going great. We have lunch, talk, and learn about each others' kids, and hang out and talk some more. Then, we are all getting antsy about checking the time since we have to pick up our kiddos. So she asks me what time I have to pick up my kids, and I say 3:00. Which is true, for JB and Jenna, my big kids. But poor Ressie. I FORGOT HER RIGHT THERE! Ding, ding, ding!! Warning bells shoud have been going off right there!! I am supposed to pick Ressie up from her pre-school at 2:30! So me and friend and friend's kids load up and we're trucking along back to Fairfield. Drop off friend at her car. Check the time, and then I'm all like, "Self, you've got plenty of time before you pick up the kids, let's cruise through Sonic and get a drink". And I'm all, "great idea Self"! Cool...here we go. Get the tea, "mmm...good tea". Check the time...still good! Then while I'm sitting there enjoying my drink in the awesome quiet (while jamming to "Stranglehold"

--that's totally "quiet time" for me as there were no screaming kids in the car at the time), I decide to call Butch and tell him about my awesome day. So I do, and we're talking. So I put him on speaker, and pull on out of Sonic so that I can meander my way to the school. Then he has to go, so we say our good-byes, and hang up. Crank the music (good tunes must be listened to at the proper level to be appreciated, after all), and then I think to myself, out of the blue, "where's Ressie?". HOLY #?*$!!!! *BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*!!!!!!! (I can't actually bring myself to type what I said, my Mamaw is probably gonna read this!)  HOLY #$@&!!!!  I FREAKIN' FORGOT MY KID!! OH SHIT OH SHIT OHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT!! Literally....I went through all of that, and then into panic mode. HOLY CRAP I REALLY FORGOT RESSIE!! I'M A COMPLETE ASSHAT FAILURE OF A MOTHER!!! OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT!!! So then I think, "OK, calm down...you gotta call the school before they call you". So I call, and out comes my lie..."Hey, this is Shannon, I'm soooooo SORRY!! I had a flat, but I'm on my way!" Cue the cloud of SHAME!! I lied to the teacher--at the CHURCH pre-school!--so that I didn't have to admit to anyone that I forgot my own child! So I get there and run in--ok, ok...walked...really fast--and when I get in there, she's just happy as can be, helping the teacher clean-up. Teacher says, "oh, she was fine, I'm always here until at least 3 anyways, its really ok". So I feel like more of an ass for lying! Great!

Well, me and little Miss Sunshine roll out of the church parking lot and head over to get in line at school to pick-up JB and Jenna. And cue the 3-year-old, bawling melt-down! Total over-load for me! Call Butch, no answer. Call Mom, no answer. Frantically call Mom again..."please freakin pick up! Why the F#$% do you not pick up?! HOLY CRAP JUST TELL ME YOU FORGOT ME JUST ONCE PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE!!"...still, no answer. "DAMMIT!!!"

I eventually calmed down. After some texting to the bestie and--finally--a phone call from Butch, I was convinced that, while I may not win "mother of the year", I am NOT a terrible parent. It happens to the best of us, y'all. On the bright side of this whole thing, she was totally supervised the entire time and was in a safe place. I didn't leave her at the park, or in the parking lot at WalMart, or anything like that. And, I was less than 15 minutes late (like only 14). So it could have been way worse. I am so thankful for her little pre-school, they are truly good people there!

And so ends another eventful day in the Margraves household. Please, please, please, let tomorrow be uneventful!