Trauma in The School Pick-Up Line.

I have never pretended to be a perfect mother.
I'm nowhere close!

• There are nights when I forget to tell my young'ins to brush their teeth.
• There have been a few nights that I let them eat ice cream or cold cereal for dinner.
• There was that one time I left and went to the store, forgetting that one of the little ones was home sick from school and sleeping in bed.
• I let my 13 yr old watch rated R movies with me.
• When my 8 yr old told me he didn't feel good, I sent him to school telling him he was "just fine" only to have the school nurse call me 2 hours later and tell me that he had a temperature of 102.
• I do NOT volunteer to do the class parties.
• I am NOT a member of the PTA.
• And I let my kids ride the bus to school.
  

Yep, I am not one of those moms who willingly drives her 5 kids to 4 different schools.
I kiss them goodbye and send em out the door to wait for the big yellow school bus, quickly locking the door behind them just in case they try to come back in.

Yesterday was the first day in years that I went to pick one of them up from school at the end of the day.

I pulled into the parking lot 20 minutes before school was to end to wait in line.
There is one long sidewalk that runs in front of the school.
I was lucky because there was just enough room left for me to park at the end of the line of parents waiting to pick up their darlings.
I pulled into line.
I noticed that there were some other parents waiting in the parking lot in a line too.
I rolled down my window.
Turned on my music.

When I looked around I saw some lady, who I have never seen before in my life, waving at me.
I smiled and waved back, only then to notice that she was NOT waving... she was shooting me the bird! Yes... she was sitting there glaring and waving her bony middle finger at me!
I turned away in shock.
I figured that maybe she thought I was someone else.. and never looked back at her again.

I sat in my car for the next 15 minutes or so, waiting for worker #4 to emerge from the school building.
When the children finally came bounding out of the big front doors, I watched the teachers go from car to car getting the name of the student that they were waiting to pick up.
They would shout each child's name over a very LOUD bullhorn, and the kid would break from the pack and make a mad dash to their awaiting vehicle.

Then one very official and slightly perturbed looking woman came out of the front door.
She marched past the 13 cars in front of me in line and came directly to my passenger side door.
I rolled down the window, smiled and told her the name of my short person that I had been waiting for.

"Did you just cut in line in front of all these people?" she snapped

"Um, I don't think so, I just pulled in behind the last car in line and have been sitting here for 20 minutes." I responded.
I was taken aback with her tone, and suddenly felt like I was one of those little kids sitting on the front stoop of the school waiting for their parents. I was being scolded and questioned.

"THAT car in front of you is on the red line!!" She exclaimed.

"Ummm ok.. is that a bad thing?" I asked

"YES it's a bad thing! when the last car in that line is at the red line, you are Supposed to turn left and snake your way around the parking lot!! YOU just cut all of those people!! You are cutting in line!!!" she explained while waving her arms around so everyone knew she was yelling at me.

"I'm sorry, this is my first time picking my son up and I didn't know the rules." I explained.

"The first week of school you signed the student handbook didn't you??? When you signed it you stated that you read it and understood it's contents!!" she lectured.

"Yes I signed it. I guess I missed that part. I'm sorry."

"Well... Don't let it happen again!! All of the other parents in line are calling me in the office and complaining about you being a line cutter!!!". then she stomped off.

Ok... So let me get this straight...
I sat in the pick-up line for 20 minutes.
There were several other parents waiting in their cars too.
They wait there every day for their child and they had never seen my mud-covered Suburban before, they knew I was new.
If I was doing something that made them mad, Why didn't someone toot their horn, and holler... YOUR DOING IT WRONG!! or YOU ARE CUTTING!!
Instead.. they called the office and TOLD on me??
Parents, adults called and told on me!!

I didn't know if I should me angry or laugh at these people or feel sorry for them because this is such a big deal in their lives.

I certainly hope that worker #4 enjoyed the ride home, because his little butt will be on the bus for the rest of his life!!

***Stay tuned for tomorrows post... a Guest post from my Spoiled Rotten City Girl little sister, Bethany!***
She is living my life and watching my kids and the farm while I ran away to spend some adult alone time with the Man-of-My-Dreams this week-end... She may have some things to get off of her chest by the end of her time there.