"What Am I Doing This Weekend, Mom?"

Posted by Vulnadia on Apr 30, 2009 at 06:12 PM Yesterday, when I picked up my eldest from school, I was met with an interesting question. He very sweetly and pryingly asked, "What am I doing this weekend, Mom?" I knew he wanted something, and I hated to be the bearer of bad news. Afterall, he spent the better part of last Saturday over at his fencing school. He had his regular private lesson at 8, returned for the youth program at 11, then stayed the rest of the afternoon to referree the youth tournament. My poor child was introduced to the wonderful world of soccor moms. Yep, fencing, like any sport, has its share of Moms who are very ardent about the success of their children and will argue any and everything with the poor referree who is responsible for calling and explaining the touches in the bouts. He somehow managed to stay very polite, even when they got up in his face and tried to pull "Mommie rank" on him and get him to change his mind in favor of their child. Sometimes, he reported them coming at him from different directions! He got very used to saying, "It is my call, do not question the referree" over and over again. So you can imagine he had a very long day. He also missed getting to chaperone his best friend's little brother's birthday party, something that he looks forward to doing each year. So I was very sad when I had to tell him our weekend was very full, but somehow I knew that he already knew this himself! I smiled and told him, "Friday night we have that art show downtown that we have been preparing for for quite a while! Remember how we are taking some of your pieces down to hang, too?" "Saturday morning, instead of your usual fencing lesson, you have an early check in for the National's qualifiers at Magnet. You and Dad will be there most of the day." Then I had to take a breath, and say, "Saturday night, Daddy has a 7:30 call for the Opera and you are to be my date to see Dad and our friends in the show." "Afterwards, Grandma Jan and Grandpa Don will run you home to relieve our sitters and Dad and I have to go to the Opera After-Party." I told him he had better make sure to go to bed, too, because the next morning he has another early check-in for Day 2 of the Qualifiers for Nationals which will last most of the day Sunday. "So yes, dear, we have a very busy week ahead of us! How about next weekend? Can we arrange something for you guys to do then?" I knew that he was wanting to have his friend over for the weekend, but maybe next week!