For those of you who think hell week is in the late summer just before football season starts, think again.
Hell week is that last week before the last week of school, when everything happens all at once, when parents are expected to be in four places at the very same time, when the kids are itching to be out of school and get difficult about basic things like getting up on time. At the same time this is happening, the clients are anxious to have work done because they want to go on vacation with a clear mind and tasks pile up at the other job because of system outages and VIP visits.
I haven’t been blogging much because I’ve been too tired to type. Just about all I can manage is clicking — typing is completely out of my reach these days.
Oh, and then there’s PMS. That may become a new category on this blog…as I get older I get crankier and it lasts longer. I realized yesterday that part of my reaction to the new drum set came out of being in serious hormonal trigger mode. Not all of it, but the part that was over the top, anyway. I have never really been particularly prone to serious PMS until the last couple of years…and it’s getting worse, lasting longer, and may drive me and my family crazy.
Since last Thursday, Sticks has done six concerts and managed to slip in a lesson with a well-known pro drummer in our area. All of this requires someone to drive, and that someone has been T. Unfortunately Sticks overscheduled a bit, requiring me to show up to other gigs as his proxy, like the Music Department awards banquet on Wednesday.
As a rule, I am not a fan of year-end awards ceremonies and particularly not this one. I love seeing the kids that I’ve photographed and chaperoned all year getting recognition, but there’s been an undercurrent of favoritism in the past that has really bothered me, so I wasn’t looking forward to standing in for Sticks while he was drumming up a storm at his drum teacher’s annual recital concert. I felt like this year would be particularly difficult because the band director has decided to leave, which leaves Sticks in a bit of a quandary going into his senior year. For someone who plans to go to college as a jazz studies candidate and hopes for scholarships, the band director’s recommendation is key, and he will be starting at zero with an unknown quantity. Bottom line — I would rather have been anywhere but there.
So I was pleasantly surprised when his name was announced as the recipient of this year’s leadership award! He definitely earned it, but two years ago I’d have laughed out loud if anyone had said it would happen…he’s grown a lot and matured a lot, and I was very glad to hear that others have seen it, too. I was a little sad that he missed his moment in the sun, but he was happy to be playing his gig, and happier still when I showed up with his award later that night.
At 10 when we all got home I was thinking that it would be nice to go to bed early when Sticks then announced that he needed to finish editing a 4-minute video project for his chemistry class. It ended up being hysterical, but he didn’t finish until 1:30 am…and the video stuff is in our bedroom…sigh.
I don’t like this feeling of complete and utter exhaustion. We haven’t been home since last Wednesday night for more than sleeping. I am counting the days until school is officially OUT and we’re in the lazy days of summer.
(Remind me that I said that when I hit the end of July and we’re still running like dogs…)
