can’t win

Originally, my kids were supposed to go spend time with my sister in California for two weeks and I would once again drive to Bakersfield and meet them next weekend, on the 2nd to pick them up.  Then my sister called and said if I would let them stay three weeks, she would bring them all the way home.

The man and I both highly doubted the validity of this statement and thought we’d probably get stuck driving all the way to San Francisco to pick them up the weekend before schools starts, which would totally suck ass.

I sent my sister a text message Monday morning when I got to work.  I told her that I wanted to pick them up this weekend as originally planned. I sent the message at 9:00 a.m.  Around 2:00 p.m. the work phone rang. I picked it up, “Law Office.”

“Law Office.” a little louder this time.

Just as I was about to hang up, I hear MOM! in a very exasperated voice. 

I had to smile.  It was 8.  I said hello and asked what she was doing.  She said “I’m calling you.  I am not happy.  Why do we have to come home this weekend?”

I said “where is your sister?”

She said “sitting on the couch being very angry too.”

I said put me on speaker phone.  Then I explained that they needed to come home so they could meet their teachers before school starts on the 11th. 

8 said “can’t you just meet them and then tell us what they look like?  You know I’m shy.”

I said “no, besides, we need to go shopping for new school stuff and some clothes.”

8 said “can’t you just go shopping any buy us whatever. We will probably like it.”

I said no.  I said their dad misses them terribly and wants to see them so bad he is coming with me to pick them up.

8 said “great. so we can’t even listen to good music on the drive home.”

11 finally chimed in and said “great. It will be the longest seven hours of my life with the crap he listens too.”