Wednesday, September 12, 2012

It's all good until the popcorn needs popped

I’ve always thought friends are important. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t (at age 43) still declare a friend from 7th grade and my college Little Sis as my BFFs. Friends are especially important when you feel like you’re going crazy from all the chaos and drama in your life and you just want to feel normal. I am blessed to have two good friends who balance out my crazy – Jenn and Lindy.


Just because of our schedules and kids (13 between the three of us) lunch plans are frequently rescheduled (today’s lunch took three tries? I think?) but when we all sit down, sans children, it gives us a chance to reconnect, catch up and laugh. Oh, do we ever laugh. Sometimes at the most inappropriate things, but that’s how we roll.

Today’s lunch was a lovely Panera offering of soups and sandwiches, which also included topics ranging from two kids hoping to make student council at school; the often-inappropriate things that pop out of teen boys’mouths; school field trips; family drama; teenagers and their nonchalant views on how the world really works; kids’ challenges and disappointments; antics from overly-dramatic children; catching up on what’s going on with mutual friends… the list goes on.

During our conversation, we realized how funny it is that we find ourselves laughing at things that might have most parents stunned speechless or paralyzed with shock. Are we bad moms? Most definitely not. Is that how we maintain our sanity? Most definitely so. We are smart, strong women, helping raise 13 children to be good, responsible young adults – the kind of children you eventually feel pretty good about letting loose on the world. Juggling work and family life can be tricky, and is almost always chaotic. But we do it. Every day. Every week. Every month, and so on. And we do this with in partnership with three pretty great husbands, too.

So, while this post is a shout-out to two wonderful friends laced with my thanks for a.) being my friends, and b.) making my crazy life feel normal… I probably have to explain the title of this post. It ties into the “two kids hoping to make student council at school,” reference. Apparently, at Jenn’s daughters’ school, the parents of kids who make it onto student council find themselves automatically scheduled to go to the school and pop popcorn. (Which I completely forgot to ask why, but that can be addressed at our next lunch.) It was a statement that made us laugh, because … seriously?! The school tells you when you have to come in and help? Oy vey. As if schedules and calendars aren’t already filled to the brim...I can’t even begin to imagine my own response if I received a note like that.

My response just might be classified as an “inappropriate thing that might pop out of teen boys’ mouths.”