Wednesday, June 28, 2006
The Annals of Summer, part the first
Well, it's summer holidays, which means that my free time, alone time, time to think my own thoughts -- whatever you want to call it -- has evaporated like a puddle in the noon-day sun. My children, all three of them (what was I thinking?) are home.
I intend to put them to work like the mother in that comic strip, but so far I've been too depressed to do much besides yell at them. The rain isn't helping; yesterday when I finally gave in to their whining and agreed to take them to swimming lessons despite the fact that I would have to stand outside in the pouring rain with a sick baby for 1/2 an hour while they had their lessons, I walked out of my house towards the garage to get our bikes and slipped, turning my foot in a sickening, muscle-tearing wrench that hurt like fuck and fell on my right ass cheek. Now my foot is swollen and bruised and I am limping and feeling like everyone thinks I'm a big faker, 'cause that's what I think whenever I see someone limping.
This morning I vowed to be nicer to them and tried again, despite even heavier rain, to get them to swimming lessons. We got out on the bikes without incident and when we were halfway there my bicycle brakes failed completely. I couldn't walk because of my foot, so I had to ride anyway, veeery slowly, and to stop? Well, I had to drag my foot along the sidewalk, of course. It won't surprise you to learn that when we got to swimming lessons one of the lifeguards came out and said, Someone heard thunder so nobody's allowed in the pool for another half hour. Pop quiz: How long is the swimming lesson? Half an hour.
I could have stayed at home and put my aching foot up instead of using it as a primitive brake, but I thought I'd be nice and take my kids to their lesson. Like I said, what was I thinking?
Well, it's summer holidays, which means that my free time, alone time, time to think my own thoughts -- whatever you want to call it -- has evaporated like a puddle in the noon-day sun. My children, all three of them (what was I thinking?) are home.
I intend to put them to work like the mother in that comic strip, but so far I've been too depressed to do much besides yell at them. The rain isn't helping; yesterday when I finally gave in to their whining and agreed to take them to swimming lessons despite the fact that I would have to stand outside in the pouring rain with a sick baby for 1/2 an hour while they had their lessons, I walked out of my house towards the garage to get our bikes and slipped, turning my foot in a sickening, muscle-tearing wrench that hurt like fuck and fell on my right ass cheek. Now my foot is swollen and bruised and I am limping and feeling like everyone thinks I'm a big faker, 'cause that's what I think whenever I see someone limping.
This morning I vowed to be nicer to them and tried again, despite even heavier rain, to get them to swimming lessons. We got out on the bikes without incident and when we were halfway there my bicycle brakes failed completely. I couldn't walk because of my foot, so I had to ride anyway, veeery slowly, and to stop? Well, I had to drag my foot along the sidewalk, of course. It won't surprise you to learn that when we got to swimming lessons one of the lifeguards came out and said, Someone heard thunder so nobody's allowed in the pool for another half hour. Pop quiz: How long is the swimming lesson? Half an hour.
I could have stayed at home and put my aching foot up instead of using it as a primitive brake, but I thought I'd be nice and take my kids to their lesson. Like I said, what was I thinking?
# posted by becca : 9:59 AM
