Fables

It was a hectic day. I was on the run today, all day. I left the house at 8:30 am and got home at 3:30 pm and was back out at 3:45 to pick up my son and his buddy from baseball practice.

Baseball season has unofficially begun in my house. It really never ends with winter clinics, spring training programs and tournaments but the calendar turns to March and the baseball clock starts ticking.

My first appointment of the day involved some pretty painful cortisone shots to my big toe which leaves me limping for the rest of the day. By 2:30, I was in pain, on the couch with an ice pack and a dog on either side of me hanging out.

I'm telling a story that most moms and dads can relate to...running to keep all your balls in the air.

James had a project that's due on Friday and he was finishing it up with his project partner, Mike D. Mike is seriously one of the funniest kids I've ever met. He is wry, dry and just flat out makes me laugh out loud. I've discovered that boys don't tend to estimate well. When I ask how much work do you have left on a project, the usual answer I get is "an hour or so." My estimation is "an hour or so" is actually about three hours. I've been pretty much on the money every time.

I picked them up from school and the boys hit the kitchen table. They had to write an original fable in Spanish and it needed to be illustrated. The fable was written and the boys needed some help in the actual physical writing of the fable. Watching my son hold a piece of paper up to the high hat lights while trying to trace a picture was just so pathetic that I had to "help."

This is where my famed Catholic school education came to the rescue.  I am left-handed and have beautiful handwriting. I'm not shy, I really do have beautiful handwriting. It was years of the nuns and Mrs. Lovett forcing me to re-write my assignments until you could no longer tell that I was left-handed. I've learned the tips and tricks of how to hold writing instruments so I don't get the dreaded inky pinky. You fellow lefties know what I mean ;)

Jamie and Joe went out to baseball lessons and I spent the evening feeding two fourteen year olds, writing a fable in Spanish, practicing my penmanship, listening to really loud rap music and having a great time. I really did! Side note, you want to know how to feed fourteen year old boys? Just throw as much food as you possibly can in the oven and serve.

Fables always have a moral. My moral for today: the laundry will still be there tomorrow and penmanship still matters.