Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Free At Last

Last week was a barbecue at Emma's school. We had gotten a notice home, and Emma was so very excited. We told her we would go, both Marty and I, and have lunch with her and it would be so fun.

She was thrilled.

So what does an extremely sleep-deprived set of parents do in a situation like this? They would never forget about it, right? Of course not!

Ummm, yeah.

She came home on the bus Friday, and asked in her meek, little disappointed voice, "Mommy, I thought you were coming to the barbecue today. I waited for you, but you never came."

I have never felt like such a heel in all my life.

I apologized profusely, and held her while she cried I cried. "Baby, I am so very sorry. I messed that one up big time. I completely forgot, and I am so sorry. I wanted to come have lunch with you, and I missed it, I am so very sorry. Will you forgive me?"

"That's OK, Mommy, I forgive you. I thought maybe you were talking about another barbecue." And with that, she skipped happily away.

So today, in an effort to shed the title of the World's Worst Mom Ever, I went to her school, bought an adult lunch ticket and met her class and ate cafeteria lunch with her. She beamed from ear to ear and could not sit down she was so excited. Seriously. She literally stood the entire time.

I chatted with her classmates and hugged my darling, pizza-eating girl. As she was leaving, she said, "Mommy, thank you so much for coming to lunch today." At last, I am freed of my horrible Mommy-guilt. "I was happy to come. Thank you for letting me share lunch with you, Emms!" She hugged my neck and sighed in my ear, the sigh of a happy, contented girl. "I think I'll let you do it again sometime."

It's a date, darling. It's a date.

5 comments:

DJan said...

Wow. That explains it. There was such a disturbance in the Force last week. It was Emma, and then your guilt. Glad to know you made it right by her. It was truly a sweet story. I'm still smiling.

Carmen O. said...

awww, tiffani! why'd you have to go and make me cry like that?!

Carmen O. said...

By the way, i was thinking about this again today and thought I'd share that in Spencer's first year at preschool I forgot to send him in his Halloween costume on Halloween, and he was the ONLY kid without a costume. I felt TERRIBLE. We all do things like this - don't beat yourself up too bad. I'm glad you got the chance to go to her school for lunch, though. And glad she might let you do it again sometime. :)

Love my babes said...

Wow I cried too. But I have to say it's b/c I relate. Last year Connor brought a note home saying he was singing downtown. He didn't hand it to me but put it in his lunch box. It was a inch wide piece of paper stuck in between all the trash of his lunch. I threw it out. Man he gave me a guilt trip unintentionally but man I felt so bad. So I am at Kolette's joyschool grad and some moms were talking about having to go to watch their 1st graders sing. I thought I didn't hear about this. So I went and staked out the nursing home and watched out for Connor's bright green jacket. Low and behold he came off the bus. So i got to see the final time he sang out of the school. All by a fluke. Glad you got to make it up to Emma and make her day. You are a great mom!

CulyQFun said...

I would've cried too if I'd missed.
But what a way to make up for it!!
You're a GREAT mom.