When I interviewed to be a sales executive at Savannah Magazine, my future bosses asked me the fully loaded question, "What is your biggest weakness?" Now I know I'm supposed to cleverly turn this negative into a positive with some sort of contrived answer like, I try too hard, I care too much, I just LOVE overtime... But no, I said, "I CANNOT multi-task." Their expressions were filled with a combination of amazement and disappointment. I think they thought I was really going to be the one. But I was not going to pass up my only opportunity to get this elephant out of the room. I needed the alibi of, "I told you so," when things went south in some logistical blaze of glory. Nope, I was going to have to rely on good old fashioned honesty and humility if I hoped to make it in this fast paced, multi-faceted modern world.
Since then, I've owned an art gallery, run my own businesses, managed to stay married and raise SIP, my now nine year old wonderful kid, who unfortunately inherited my gene of utter cluelessness. Sometimes I look at him and wonder why oh why did you not get your father's since of wherewithal? My husband was born with TYPE A stamped across his forehead. If he could have walked the doctor through delivery he would have and then suggested somebody turn up the thermostat because it was a little chilly in there after sitting in a muggy 98.6 degree oven for nine months. In fact, if he could have, he would have sent instructions ahead of his arrival along with clothes to change into and an iron for the clothes.
Anyway, for some reason, I planned to get ahead of things this summer. Preparations for this camp and that, VBS prep, VBS week, Father's day, SIP's birthday, vacations all speckled in with work where I am the only person in charge...was not going to beat me this year. I was going to stay on TOP. As early as March, I had registered and paid for Oatland Island Camp, Centrikid Camp, Junior University. I looked at my pen splattered calendar, put a smug smile on my face and kicked it into cruise control.
All of this probably would have worked out ok if I hadn't put the wrong dates down for VBS. See, they changed it this year from ALL THE OTHER YEARS IN THE PAST, to the week prior. And all the other things I scheduled for the summer were based on this one tiny error. Then it was time for Junior University, SIP's first year at the one week long summer school at Savannah Arts. That Monday at drop off, his teacher was so nice. She introduced herself and said, "SIP will come here every day for the two weeks of camp." Hold up, TWO weeks?! How did I miss that? How on earth did I miss that? Now, I have double paid for camps as SIP is scheduled to go to Oatland Island the following week!!!!
I have failed failed failed in so many ways this summer. I have missed important meetings, been late on birthday gifts, showed up for karate when there was no karate that night. I say all this to say, I've never stopped trying. I write things down, granted in places I forget on paper I can't find, but I try. I put clues in my phone that I discover weeks after the events have passed. I still have not written thank you notes for SIP's birthday gifts.
SIP had a friend over today and they decided to make a fort in the studio. As I was working elsewhere in the house, SIP came to me and asked if I would help him pull the couch out into a bed. So I went in there and rearranged the room because the room is filled to the ceiling with my work accoutrement (I used a fancy French word here to distract from the fact that my studio looks like a set from Hoarders) so that I could pull the large mattress out from the belly of the giant couch. When I finally uncovered the layers of blankets and pillows and dog toys and furniture, I looked down at the couch and laughed. I laughed harder than I have ever laughed in my life. Then SIP laughed and his friend Olivia began to laugh even though she didn't know why we were laughing hysterically. I had sold the fold-out couch over a year ago. This was a different couch.
