Mom visit + a big disappointment

I’m a bit preoccupied this week because my mom is here! She got here last night.

First though, I had a fun work lunch out yesterday at Forage Kitchen with my boss + our whole RN team (so in my department, that’s me + 4 other nurses + my boss, who is also a nurse). Nurse’s Week was May 6-12, and we all go out for lunch in honor of that every year. (Happy Belated Nurse’s Week to any nurses reading! Nurses are the best! Do I have any nurse readers?? 🤔)

Anyway, my team all met up from 12-2. It was low key and nice and the food was yummy. We all primarily work remote, so it’s good to see people’s actual faces now and then!

I worked more (from home) after that, and then just before 5 pm I left to pick up my mom. She doesn’t drive the interstate, so my dad drove her halfway and we met in Johnson Creek (~35 minutes or so for me).

My dad will come back on Friday to stay too for a couple days, as Ethan has Conference tennis this weekend, Asher has prom, and we’re also going to do a belated Mother’s Day celebration.

Usually a couple times per year my mom comes alone like this for a few days. It’s always really nice. Obviously, it’s great when both parents are here, but it’s a different, more relaxed vibe when it’s just my mom now and then, I guess. The boys like it too because they get some special 1:1 time and chats with my mom, as do I!

Changing gears, this morning something really disappointing happened for Asher.

He plays golf, as you know, and he was selected along with 3 others to play in a Qualifying Round to see which 2 of the 4 would play in this important upcoming Conference golf match. The thing was, the qualifier was at 6:30 a.m. today (Wednesday).

He told me about it the other day and was really excited; he felt he had a very strong chance at winning a spot. I didn’t know all the exact details – we’re at this funny stage now where the boys basically manage their own sports and school stuff. They tend to keep track of when and where they have to be! They’re quite responsible about it all, thankfully. I do not micromanage.

Last night he was at gym and then I got wrapped up looking at a work thing until late, so I barely talked to him yesterday. This morning’s qualifier wasn’t top of my mind at all.

ALSO, it wasn’t on the calendar, because, well, the boys are terrible about adding their stuff to the calendar, which drives me insane. (They do keep track, just not written down…..🙄). And oddly, nothing came home via team message or email to me about this morning qualifier event, so I also hadn’t added it. (I do still handle adding the boys’ games and events- anything that I receive formal notification of. But like their work schedules or any other ad hoc things that are only communicated to them- nope.)

I woke up this morning, per usual, at about 5:30. Did my morning routine, said bye to Ethan (who leaves for school at 7), took a shower, etc. At 8:00 I came up from my office to find Asher (who usually leaves for school at 8:15) in the sunroom talking to my mom, NOT in golf clothes. All of a sudden it came rushing back to me, oh yeah- THE GOLF THING!

I was a little confused- Wait, what happened?! Did you even go?!

And he exclaimed, clearly very upset, “NO!! I totally overslept!!! I have no idea what happened!! I set 4 different alarms, one for 5:15, 5:30, 5:45, and 6:00.”

He was devastated. His coach had texted him to see if he was okay and where he was. Obviously, since he didn’t show up, he lost out on his chance to play for a qualifier spot. HUGE bummer!! He’s been working sooooo hard at golf and has been doing really well.

I also felt terrible, because I was literally just sitting here and could so easily have woken him up, but it never even crossed my mind! Which is also weird/ unfortunate that I forgot, too… I don’t know, just was not on my radar at all, I guess. (He has never once had a golf thing in the morning, it’s always after school, so maybe that’s why. Also, I never wake the boys up, so their wake-up times are just not something I pay attention to anymore. And it’s not like I was going to have to drive him, either.)

Since he was so upset, it really wasn’t the time to start lecturing him, but I did manage to eventually point out: a) you need to always triple check your alarms (and the sound setting) b) you need to tell someone else to be your back up, if it’s really important c) ideally, set different types of alarms (eg a phone and a regular alarm…) and d) PUT YOUR STUFF ON THE CALENDAR! (Literally one of the first things I do in the morning is to check my Google Calendar. If he had added it, I 100% would have seen it and remembered!)

Anyway, live and learn I guess. On the bright side, he’s only a sophomore. Imagine if he’d done this as a senior and missed out!

I do feel like my kids (probably all kids, but mine for sure) like to always think “things won’t happen to them”. If I had told him beforehand, “Hey, make sure to triple check your alarms etc. etc.”, he probably would have said, “Yeah, yeah… mom, I wake up to an alarm every day, I’m not going to oversleep.”

Ahem.

I suppose that’s the difference between adults and kids, right?? After a time or two of oversleeping, or slipping while running on ice, or, booking the wrong hotel dates… (😬), we learn that things may indeed happen to us now and then, and therefore it’s best to be prepared. Ha.

I still do feel really sad for him that it happened, though. 😦

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for some delicious steak milanesas that Ivan made for dinner tonight. I made potatoes and cream of zucchini.