I had a whole other post planned for today. It was going to be about this amazing new virtual blogging workshop I’m participating in called 31 Days to Build a Better Blog sponsored by the SITS Girls. But the universe had other plans.
It started out so well: Flapper had received an invitation to the 6th birthday party of the son of my best friend last week. I was so impressed with myself – I had RSVP’d, had a great Star Wars present ready to go, to coordinate with the party theme and Flapper was completely excited to party with some BOYS. He always complains (rightfully so) that his older sisters have more play dates and parties to attend than he does, so this was a welcome invitation.
When Flapper got home today, I let him know that today was the big day! I had read the invite which I recalled had a start time of 5:30. I asked to him to relax and get a little rest in anticipation of the big event which I was sure would include the usual boy activities: roughhousing, pretend battling and light saber wars. While he was resting up, I got a little (more) laundry done, took care of the dogs and worked on the aforementioned workshop. I was SuperMom!!
Flapper must have asked me every 5 minutes if it was time to go. Is there anything sweeter than seeing your child’s face lit up in anticipation? Finally. 5:30. “Yes, Flapper. It’s time to go.”
My girlfriend lives a few roads away, so we hopped in the SUV and headed on over. I planned on doing the old “drop and run” so I could dinner started at home. (SuperMom, remember?) I was a little surprised to see that it appeared every other mother had done the same thing, since there were only two cars in the driveway, but we were a little late…whatever. I pulled in.
Flapper hops out of the car and we hurry up the steps to the front door, Flapper with a grin on his face and his gift in his hand. I walk right in, son in tow, and am immediately struck by the quiet. “They must be in the backyard,” I tell him.
My girlfriend appears from upstairs.
“Who’s there?” she says.
Uh oh.
“It’s me and Flapper.” (Improper English, I know.)
And then the axe falls: “Beth, the party was from 3:30 to 5:30.”
People, today I learned what the word “crestfallen” means. You do not want to see that look on the face of your kid. You. Do. Not.
Flapper surrenders his gift and gets his goody bag and a slice of birthday cake for the road since the birthday boy had lacrosse practice. At this point, I’m apologizing up and down, left and right and trying to calculate just how large a Lego set I’m going to have to buy to prevent this episode from coming back to haunt me…for eternity.
We walk out to the car and as Flapper climbs in, his slice of cake flips off the plate and lands frosting side down on the driveway. He looks up to the sky:
“Are you SERIOUS?!”
I hear you, little man, I hear you.
(In what can only be called karmic justice, Flapper just spilled a bottle of red Hawaiian Punch all over the kitchen. And my camera.)
realistmom.wordpress.com 
Oh my…You are still super mommy! My youngest just turned 18 (I have 3) and I remember some major slip ups in my day. It’s hard to keep it all going…and hey you have a great, funny post here. 🙂 Big Lego kits can buy all kinds of forgiveness.
Thanks for stopping by! I wonder how many Lego sets have been purchased by guilt-ridden parents? : )
ouch. ouch. ouch.
Is this your first blog?! You are totally a natural! Keep at it!
It might be “too late” to tell you that, although I blog on WordPress(.com) as well, I regret not having gone with blogger/blogspot, because I am not able to get in on a network called BlogHer . . . a network that your blog would be such a natural for.
Thanks for the kind words! I really appreciate them – I’m trying to really stick with this. I love writing and sharing – as you can tell from Facebook!
I didn’t know that about BlogHer – I’ll have to look into it.