Monday, June 17, 2013

The Mad Scramble

It's the last day of the school year tomorrow, and I'm so proud of my rising 4th and 5th graders. They have handled having their lives uprooted in the last month of school with aplomb. Next week, they're off to camp-- happily and with excitement. How terrific for us all: a break from routine on all ends.

But, before they leave, logistical concerns must be addressed.

The main affair this week is to finish packing for camp, as the bags are being picked up by the mandatory luggage delivery service on Friday. This is a challenge. The camp packing list requires a very large number of garments (9 shorts? 15 shirts? 20 socks? Yowza), way more than we usually have in rotation. The challenge of laying out all these clothes, in addition to the flashlights, sleeping bags, shoe bags, and other required accoutrement, in the kids' shared bedroom that has not yet been entirely unpacked from our move, has been formidable, to say the least. We'll get those bags packed, but it may be in the middle of the night on Thursday, after I've washed and dried everything the girls have worn this week. Of course, once the bags are packed, the kids will have to go naked until they leave for camp on Tuesday.



So here I am, trying to dot all the i's for camp, and looking forward to a nice long summer break, when I realize the end of this school year means I'm supposed to be thinking about NEXT school year. That's right. School medical forms are due by the end of June. Better get on that. Summer reading lists have also been distributed, so I suppose I should go through the lists and put together a nutritious book pack for each girl. Also, a friend reminded me that I need to sign up for after school programs now, otherwise my children may get shut out of their desired classes next fall.

Sometimes I think it's a wonder that my kids have had the benefit of any kind of formal education at all. It means I've somehow managed to get the forms in, and get the packing done, and make the registration dates, for this and for that, year in and year out. Although each time, it seems like a mad scramble.

My method (if there is one)? Part putting best foot forward in terms of organization and planning, and part simple belief that it will all work out in the end. My girls will get to camp with plenty of stuff in their bags, and if they happen to have one-too-few pajama tops, they will borrow a friend's or wear a t-shirt or otherwise problem-solve their way out of this imagined disaster. You just gotta believe. And, probably best to get those medical forms in, too.



1 comment:

  1. I needed to read this. I have a son flying to camp in California in a few weeks on the same day that our moving truck is coming to move us 11 hours south and last night I realized that I haven't filled out his medical forms, haven't heard back from the school in Atlanta, that the duffel bags he used for camp last year are going to be to big for checked baggage so I'd better figure out some other way for him to get his stuff there, and somehow I have to figure how to make sure his stuff doesn't get packed up with the rest of the things going on the truck. I think his duffle/suitcase/whatever will end up being packed in the car!

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