Other Moms!

Okay! I am going to vent to all responsible, respectable mothers out there. My son was invited to spend the night with one of his school buddies for a sleepover to celebrate the little boy's birthday.

Here are the following dilemas I had to face to even let my son (who is seven and a half) go:
First: Which house is this? Is it the moms or dads?
Obviously the parents are divorced in this case. I have met both mother and step-mother and have also seen both step-dad and dad. The story at school goes that mom left the kids (there are four children) several years ago to do her own thing and dad (who is a doctor) got custody and then re-married. Mom came back and does not completely approve of the christian school the children are enrolled in, but has made efforts and is now a part of their lives. Mom and step-dad come across as party people. Mom has bright pink stipes in her hair and has a darwin sticker on the back of her car.

Second: The call came two days before the event.
Nothing like planning ahead.

Third: It was a Wednesday night.
We attend church on Wednesday night.

Ok, so I get the phone call from the boy's "mom" and she asks if Benjamin can spend the night for the slumper party and I am quickly trying to think how am I going to figure out whose house this is going to be at without flat out asking who is it. I quickly remembered taking Benjamin to a costume party at the mom's house and asked, "Now, where do you live?", she tells me and I realize that this is the dad and step-mom. I state that I have to talk to my husband but will have to call back. We discuss it and we decide that it is the summer time and that we can let one night of church pass with him taking a break and spending time with his friends. The step-mom was nice enough to volunteer to drop Benjamin off at our church the next day because I was going to be there helping out the nursery for a special event this past week.

Now here is where the venting really gets good.

I get a call from our youth pastors wife and she invites Benjamin to go with some other kids to the Children's Museum the next day, but they have to leave by 9:00AM. The step-mom is not dropping him off until 9:00 or 9:30. It was pretty late and I knew she had her hands full, so I called the next morning around 8:00AM and stated that I was going to pick him up between 8:30 and 8:40. I didn't want to ask her to rush, so I found someone to cover for me in the nursery so I could pick him up myself. She said that he was still sleeping, but she would get him up, get him dressed and feed him some cereal (She said she was planning on buying donuts, but she would just get him some cereal). I was appreciative because I didn't even think about breakfast.

Well, I showed up at 8:30 and knocked on the door (hoping not to wake anyone else up). I got nothing. I rang the doorbell. Got nothing. I repeated those steps several times and then decided to call the step-mom on her cell. Got nothing. I knocked, rang and even tried to open the front door and peeped in the windows and couldn't see anything. I was starting to get worried that something might have happened. I even thought about going through the back yard and seeing if the back doors were open. I had just opened my cell to call my husband when my phone rang. It was the step-mom. (NOTE: It was 8:40) "Hey! We just ran up to get donuts, we are on our way back" she said. I say, "Is he ready to go as soon as you get back?"
"Yes" she says.

The around the corner, was a joke. It took them five minutes to get there.

The other joke was that he was not ready. He had not changed clothes, he had not brushed his teeth or his hair, none of his stuff was ready and he had not eaten (which again was something she offered to do). By the time we got (what we thought) everything together and left it was 8:50. Needless to say I was miffed. We got to the church just as the kids were getting ready to load the bus and I had to rush him (changing clothes in the car, eating breakfast on the way). He was so tired, I almost didn't let him go, but he was wanting to go by this point.

Everything worked out and he had a good time.
We did have to go back to the house later that afternoon because they found his crocs. I hadn't notice that they were missing yet.

Needless to say that he will not be spending the night at that house again.

I guess my biggest issue is that if you say you are going to have him ready and fed. Then do it. Don't leave the house with my child at the time I say I am going to be there and leave me at the door knocking, ringing the bell, calling your cell and get nothing.....for 10 minutes. I was not happy.

By the way, we received a birthday invitation in the mail today for this kid's birthday party at his mom's house. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Unfortunately we will be out of town. AWWWWW!!


At least he was able to get his buddy a gift and spend time with him. The kids are completely oblivious to the drama.