Im always a little depressed coming back from vacation. So its not surprising to find me on return flights home wistfully looking out that little window wishing once again for umbrella drinks on the beach instead of Diet Coke at my desk.
But a couple of weeks ago, as I sat moping in a 757 on a Los Angeles International Airport runway, something struck me. As I watched our plane inch its way to takeoff behind several others, I realized how challenging it must be to be an air traffic controller.
In airports like LAX, planes are flying in and taking off nearly simultaneously, buzzing around the skies like bees in the hive. I marveled at the organizational abilities of these men and women in the tower.
But a day after returning home, I realized they had nothing on my friend Karen. She and I have daughters who are dancing in the same theater production this summer. We both work full time, as do our husbands. So we decided even before the snow had melted this spring that we should plan to carpool to the theater this summer.
Now back at work and with the theater program fast approaching, I knew we should start to make our carpool plan. But Karen, a woman with the face of a teenager and the planning and organizing skills of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, had beaten me to the punch.
She created a spreadsheet that outlined, in detail, whose children were going where on what day, who was responsible for drop off and pickup and where said children would go upon completion of that days kick-ball-changing. This was like our own D-Day battle plan, but for the whole month of June. It was awesome. Almost a work of art.
I think what most excited me was that it was something tangible that I could share with my husband, who often operates on an information- overload, need-to- know basis.
Me: We need to talk about next week. Who is taking Laura to figure skating while Jordan has her soccer game? I have that presentation for work and you have (whatever it is college professors do).
Husband (deer in headlights look): Uh, can we just talk about it closer to the day?
He walks away mumbling something. (Its probably something about kids being overcommitted or us spending too much money. Thats usually what he mumbles about.)
More here:
Parenting Perspectives: Carpool craziness
