I recently volunteered to drive some of the 5th and 6th grade boys to their basketball game. I arrived a few minutes before dismissal, and sat around with the van lights on, listening to the radio, gabbing on the phone, saying hi to Pes's teacher, and, hence, paying no attention whatsoever to my surroundings.
Ladies, let's be honest here, does it ever occur to you that your BFF, your minivan, will just suddenly fail you at the absolutely worst moment? That's right, friends, it is altogether possible that when six boys are in your car jabbering excitedly away about their impending basketball game that you have JUST ENOUGH TIME NOT A SECOND MORE to get to, your car will not start.
Never before have I seen six boys flee a car more quickly to scramble for other rides. Even my usually considerate Pes didn't stop for a second to say, "Mommy, hope you get the car started, gotta go." Or anything else except, "AAARGHH NOOOO!! We have to get to the..." Outta there. Meanwhile, the basketball coach came over and said, "Um, yeah, Mrs. Cake, that's why I've been sitting here with my lights and radio off this whole time. Battery. Gotta go." This is code for, "Lady, I am disappointed in your obvious lack of judgment, however, please volunteer for another carpool soon."
At this point, I felt downright betrayed by my best friend the minivan. And even more importantly, it meant that I didn't get credit for doing basketball carpool. But dependable Rabbi Headmaster was there within seconds with his car and some jumper cables, ready to save the day. And then, as if by magic, a little Lubavitch rabbi came along with one of those gizmos that you just clamp on and voila, the car started! Now, you have to understand, that the small west coast town in which I was raised was populated by blonds named Peter and Jenny, with roots that could be traced straight back to the Vikings, if you get my drift. And here I was with not one but two rabbis, at the ready, handily jump-starting my car. Being overseen by the ten other rabbis in the parking lot. Life has some strange twists.
Anyway, my victory (i.e., getting the car to start again in order to take boys home after the game and, therefore, getting at least half credit for carpool) was short-lived when I received an email from a mom in my non-basketball carpool upon arriving home. It explained, in no uncertain terms, the strife caused by someone forgetting to pick up the non-basketball boys and take them home, hence requiring her to do it. And, therefore, someone had to do her carpool the next day. Since she never called anyone reminding them to pick the boys up and I wasn't actually the one who forgot, and I explained that even if I had been slated to take the boys, poor me my car died, guess what? Of course, silly, I offered to do hers the next day. And then grumbled about for like 20 hours straight.
However, even though I hate to admit it, I actually enjoy doing my Pes's carpool these days. He and the five other 10-year-old boys are entertaining. I learn much valuable information to take with me straight to parent-teacher conferences. And, because of the cooler weather, my Febreeze has been safely tucked away until spring.
This does not mitigate the fact that I firmly believe that carpool laws should be codified, as in "the Shulchan Aruch of Carpool" (l'havdil). I mean, creating a legal structure for carpool is really a job for the most learned statisticians, ethicists, and talmudic scholars. Instead, the people who have the job are moms who might be the slightest bit emotional when it comes to, well, everything. Not to mention the inevitable clashes resulting from vastly different personalities, i.e., hotheaded Mrs. Cake, mellow Katie Drohn, most-experienced Mrs. E, stickler Mrs. X...The alternative, of course, is worse. Who could possibly do that many drop-offs and pick-ups all alone? So we learn to work together to get our children to and from school/activities in a safe and timely manner. Now I'm going to go read this book someone suggested I pick up, you might have heard of it.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
I believe this will help me to better function in carpool. And as an added bonus, maybe in real life too.
No comments:
Post a Comment