I mean that title literally.. “the long road ahead of us”. The company that I work for recently moved 50 miles away from where they were previously located, and from where I currently live. The commute started yesterday. It took close to an hour.
Typically, I’m not the type to complain. If it was just myself that I had to worry about, I wouldn’t even bother mentioning it. But the fact remains that this seems like another wrench thrown into this single parent’s plea for sanity and a slightly less busier life.
Yesterday morning, I dropped my son off at 1st grade at 7:30 am. I have to give my company a little bit of credit here; they are allowing a slightly flexible schedule to accomodate for having set times when I can drop him off and when I can pick him up. All in all, I’m only missing out on an hour of work each day. An hour that I can easily make up in the evenings from home.
As I started my commute though, it gave me an hour to think about my life as it currently stands today.
My Daily Schedule:
6:00 am - wake up
6 - 7:20: Get Sebastian up, cook breakfast, iron clothes that I was too tired to iron the night before, pack up lunch(PB & J just isnt the same sitting overnight as I’ve been informed) and get out of the door.
7:30: Drop Sebastian off at school
7:30 - 8:30: Drive. Now, this is the part of my schedule that used to be easy. 10 minute drive to work, no problem.
8:30 - 4:30 : Work (don’t we all?)
4:30 - 5:45: Drive home
5:45: This is where it gets interested. Screech into the parking lot of after care 10 minutes before they close. Rush Sebastian into the bathroom to change into his football gear. Curse myself for forgetting to bring a water bottle and adding another 5 minutes between here and football to stop and get water. Run out the door, zoom through the gas station.
6:00: Arrive at football
8:00: Practically run from football to our home. Get Sebastian in the shower, cook dinner, check his homework, get him ready for bed (teeth, book, etc).
9:00 - until?: Make up the hour that I’ve missed at work, clean the house, write various emails/press releases/online promotion spots for my start-up PR business.
Somewhere after midnight: Crash into bed only to realize that I’m still so wound up, I cannot fall asleep.
It would be fantastic if I knew I wasn’t the only one with this sort of schedule. Does anyone else out there feel like a madwoman just keeping up with everyday life with a child?
Exhausting, pleasurable, determined.. and oh so much fun
