When I went to wake O this morning, I couldn't help but crawl in and cuddle her. I watched her sleep for quite awhile. She was completely zonked out, almost snoring. I thought about the bus in relation to time left for us to get ready and realized we could rest a little longer. Why I could even sleep another 15 minutes and so I did.
Then they came … the trash trucks. I was in a haze as I looked at the clock-8:29 am, the exact time that the bus is scheduled to pick up O and her neighborhood friends every day. I rubbed my eyes and checked the clock again. I then leaned over and told O the time. Her eyes popped open and she excitedly said, "Yay! I'm late! I missed the bus. You get to drive me to school." To which I replied, "You're right. It happens."
From that moment I decided I wouldn't panic. In fact, we did not rush, but rather got up and moved through our usual morning routine. Of course, the entire time there was something inside my stomach asking me to hurry. I know what that something was. It was past experience of feeling guilty for being late. The guilt caused by the onset of disapproving eyes from my school days when I would walk into school after class had begun and the teacher would give me "that look.” I reminded myself that we didn't plan this. The lesson to O is not about being late, but rather about being human.
On the way to school she asked if we could pass her old preschool. I told her not today … maybe another a day. Then, the most magnificent rainbow caught my eye. It was as beautiful as the Hawaiian sky except there was not an ocean to meet it. I pulled over the hill so we could get a better view. I parked the car across from her preschool. O said, "Mommy, there it is, my preschool." I told her that she was right, and then asked her to take off her seatbelt and come sit with me. She did and that's when she noticed it too. It was so bright and beautiful. In some ways, it was divine intervention. It was my sign that us taking time this morning to relax and "be human" all the while rolling with our day was exactly what we needed.
Recently O has taken an interest in the colors of rainbows and and their arrangement. We sat there long enough to watch the colors fade away. We smiled at each other in recognition of the true essence of mother nature.
O returned to her car seat and fastened her seatbelt. As we drove to school we talked about the beauty of a rainbow, what makes a rainbow, and the incredible rainbow we witnessed just minutes ago. If it wasn't for us over sleeping today, we would have missed out. The rainbow we saw was truly a sign from the universe. That is, until we got to the school secretary who handed O a large rectangular pink slip with the word TARDY typed across it. Kindergarten SUCKS!
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