In the Right Place at the Right Time
Tuesday evenings are among my least favorite. Miss M's Irish dance school has four locations, and until the Regional Championships are over, she has classes in 3 of the 4. Tuesday's location requires a 34 mile drive (each way) and she needs to be there at 6:30 PM, which means driving during rush hour. Which I hate. hate. hate. HATE. Oh, and did I mention that I really don't like driving bumper to bumper with idiots in giant SUVs talking on their smart phones weaving in and out of four lanes of traffic as if there wasn't anyone else on the road? Especially when it's raining cats and dogs? Yes, my blood pressure *is* climbing just from thinking about it. ::stops mid rant to take calming breaths::
It didn't help that for some reason I just got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and had to suppress the urge to snarl at everyone in my path today. I was feeling decidedly Snape-ish, and in no mood to endure 40 minutes in the maelstrom when I got home from work. Miss M got home before I did and was already glued to the seat in front of her computer, no chores done, homework unattended to, nothing ready for dance class. Resisting the urge to scream, I reminded her of the things which needed doing, and then went to haul laundry out of the dryer. When I came back up, she hadn't moved. ::gggrrrrrrrrrrrrr:: I reminded her, again, and took the laundry upstairs. Back down again - STILL no movement. I'm afraid I did snarl dreadfully at that point, but it got her posterior out of the chair. However, five minutes before we needed to leave, she still hadn't changed into dance clothes. So I send the child upstairs to to change while I put her dance bag, my briefcase and purse and the dinner I pack for us (we don't get home until 9:30PM and it is neither nutritionally nor financially sustainable to be eating out 3 nights a week) into the car. She comes downstairs with no sweatpants and hair uncombed, so she is sent back upstairs to do those things, comes downstairs wearing sweatpants, but still with hair which looks like gerbils have taken up nesting in it, so back up again she goes to take care of the hair.
By the time we get out of the house, ten minutes later than we should, I am fuming. I turn on the car radio to my favorite classical station, hoping to smooth my frayed nerves, when Miss M begins petitioning for her favorite station. I figure the music will be less annoying than the whinging, so I give in. Wrong. Just as I am trying to ease into the gridlock on the expressway, Poker Face starts playing. Followed by Journey's Open Arms. Apparently fate has decided to torture me, slowwwly, until I beg to be put out of my misery. When Taylor Swift starts up, I tell my darling through gritted teeth that Mommy Has Had Enough Now, and apparently my referring to myself in the third person weirded her out sufficiently that there was no resistance to my changing the station back. But creeping along en embouteillage in the driving rain to Shostakovich was not helping my mood either. So I switched over to the 'oldies' station, and got Sam Cooke, The Beach Boys and The Hollies. Much better. :-) By the time Aretha comes on, and we're both singing Think at the top of our lungs, the traffic has thinned out , though the rain hasn't let up.
My route takes me south and west, and as we were getting closer to our destination, the sky ahead began to glow a golden yellow. I found out as I rounded a bend and got hit in the face with it, that the sun was showing, just under the front that was passing through. It was still raining where we were, so I told Miss M to start looking for the rainbow. Then I looked into my rear-view mirror and there it was, wide and intensely colored against the dark clouds behind us. I was just about to tell her so, when she shouted, "I see it Mom!" and pointed out *my side* of the car. Sure enough, there was the other end. "I can see the whole thing," she said with awe in her voice, "and it's double!"
We got to the dance studio and I hustled her inside. She came back out with her entire ceili team and the teacher in tow, so that she could take them outside to see it. After they all went back in, I stood and watched it until the sun was too far below the horizon to support it. It was awesome - one of the best rainbows I've ever seen: the whole arc, showing brilliantly from end to end, and the second refraction very visible across the sky. I took supper from the cooler and headed inside, shaking the water from my hair. I'd have never seen this if I'd been comfortable at home as I wanted to be. Maybe Tuesday evenings are tolerable after all
(This isn't our rainbow - just a picture of one I found that looked similar.)
It didn't help that for some reason I just got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and had to suppress the urge to snarl at everyone in my path today. I was feeling decidedly Snape-ish, and in no mood to endure 40 minutes in the maelstrom when I got home from work. Miss M got home before I did and was already glued to the seat in front of her computer, no chores done, homework unattended to, nothing ready for dance class. Resisting the urge to scream, I reminded her of the things which needed doing, and then went to haul laundry out of the dryer. When I came back up, she hadn't moved. ::gggrrrrrrrrrrrrr:: I reminded her, again, and took the laundry upstairs. Back down again - STILL no movement. I'm afraid I did snarl dreadfully at that point, but it got her posterior out of the chair. However, five minutes before we needed to leave, she still hadn't changed into dance clothes. So I send the child upstairs to to change while I put her dance bag, my briefcase and purse and the dinner I pack for us (we don't get home until 9:30PM and it is neither nutritionally nor financially sustainable to be eating out 3 nights a week) into the car. She comes downstairs with no sweatpants and hair uncombed, so she is sent back upstairs to do those things, comes downstairs wearing sweatpants, but still with hair which looks like gerbils have taken up nesting in it, so back up again she goes to take care of the hair.
By the time we get out of the house, ten minutes later than we should, I am fuming. I turn on the car radio to my favorite classical station, hoping to smooth my frayed nerves, when Miss M begins petitioning for her favorite station. I figure the music will be less annoying than the whinging, so I give in. Wrong. Just as I am trying to ease into the gridlock on the expressway, Poker Face starts playing. Followed by Journey's Open Arms. Apparently fate has decided to torture me, slowwwly, until I beg to be put out of my misery. When Taylor Swift starts up, I tell my darling through gritted teeth that Mommy Has Had Enough Now, and apparently my referring to myself in the third person weirded her out sufficiently that there was no resistance to my changing the station back. But creeping along en embouteillage in the driving rain to Shostakovich was not helping my mood either. So I switched over to the 'oldies' station, and got Sam Cooke, The Beach Boys and The Hollies. Much better. :-) By the time Aretha comes on, and we're both singing Think at the top of our lungs, the traffic has thinned out , though the rain hasn't let up.
My route takes me south and west, and as we were getting closer to our destination, the sky ahead began to glow a golden yellow. I found out as I rounded a bend and got hit in the face with it, that the sun was showing, just under the front that was passing through. It was still raining where we were, so I told Miss M to start looking for the rainbow. Then I looked into my rear-view mirror and there it was, wide and intensely colored against the dark clouds behind us. I was just about to tell her so, when she shouted, "I see it Mom!" and pointed out *my side* of the car. Sure enough, there was the other end. "I can see the whole thing," she said with awe in her voice, "and it's double!"
We got to the dance studio and I hustled her inside. She came back out with her entire ceili team and the teacher in tow, so that she could take them outside to see it. After they all went back in, I stood and watched it until the sun was too far below the horizon to support it. It was awesome - one of the best rainbows I've ever seen: the whole arc, showing brilliantly from end to end, and the second refraction very visible across the sky. I took supper from the cooler and headed inside, shaking the water from my hair. I'd have never seen this if I'd been comfortable at home as I wanted to be. Maybe Tuesday evenings are tolerable after all
(This isn't our rainbow - just a picture of one I found that looked similar.)