2007 June 29 — slackermama . com

So. VBS is over and done with, at long, long last. Now, I never want to hear mention of it again. Tonight was “performance night” for the parents. They served up hot dogs and chips and such and then the kids were going to sing some songs they had prepared for us. We, perhaps against better judgment, decided to go ahead and go. I felt semi-relaxed from my trauma of yesterday and I had told OtherFriend that I would indeed be there. We showed up a little late, because Kile had his gosh-darned Halo practice, of course. But we got there. There were about a billion people there and both OtherFriend’s family and NewFriend and her family were there. I saw them across the room and while Kile stood in line for food, I went over to say hi.

By the time I made it over there, NewFriend had disappeared so I chatted briefly with her husband. I didn’t think there’d be room at the table, which was fine. I toyed briefly with the idea of grabbing on of the extra tables that was up against the wall and setting it up but decided against it. I noticed NewFriend was talking to someone else and it occurred to me; she’s avoiding me. Honestly, the idea that she might be upset with me hadn’t really crossed my mind until that moment. I’d sent her a couple text messages that hadn’t been answered but I wrote those off, I guess. It just surprised me. So I saw an empty table on the far wall and went to sit over there. Soon as I sat down, NewFriend returned to her seat and that just cemented it, as far as I was concerned. She didn’t come over and say hi, was another hint. I may need to be hit over the head a couple times to “get it” but I got it.

And you know, I did it to myself. I really did. Sure, I didn’t sign myself up for VBS and I never would have in a million, billion years. But I should have spoke up when OtherFriend signed me up. At the time, I didn’t want to say anything and seem like a selfish jerk. Looking back at how everything turned out, I really should have taken that chance because I don’t think there’s any way I could have come across as being a bigger jerk than I did this week. I didn’t go on Monday, and I didn’t go today. Turns out that NewFriend ended up going today when she wasn’t supposed to. I suspect that when she learned I wasn’t going to go (via one of my unanswered text messages), she decided she would need to go in to cover for me. So she rearranged her plans, which would be aggravating to her because she would be losing out on money she could earn AND she had to go back to VBS which no one wants to have to do.

So I feel like a prize idiot. Of course she was ticked with me. I would have been ticked with me too. I really did try to handle this the best way I could, though. It was just an incredible, awful trainwreck. I will always regret this week. Thinking of it makes my stomach turn. I felt so awful tonight, realizing that my friend was upset at me and I suddenly couldn’t stop the tears. I tried to keep them in but I couldn’t. So Kile gave me the keys to the van and I went and sat in the van until the performance was over. I felt awful not getting to watch Harry sing, but Kile recorded a video of it on his cellphone for me to watch which was nice. And leaving there felt about as good as anything ever has.

Will I ever do VBS again? I think we can say a big ol’ “HELL NO” to that one. I don’t think I’ll sign Harry up for it again either. He didn’t enjoy it that much and I might feel that if I put him in there and didn’t help out that I’d be a sort of freeloader and I don’t want to go through THAT whole slippery mess again. Nope, from here on out, NO VBS for us. Shoot, I’ll be lucky if I feel like I can show my face in church again after this whole fiasco.

I hate making people mad at me.

Get the word out:

Yesterday, while largely a very stressful day for me (one of those cases where five hours just set the tone for the rest of the day, despite my best wishes), was quite possibly the best day Liam has ever experienced. Look at it from his perspective: First thing in the morning, he’s off to vbs where he gets to dodge naptime and play with other babies and munch on Kix cereal all morning long. Then, after a too-short nap at home, he’s off again to have lunch with his mom, brother, aunt and cousins. And there, he samples a buffet like no other he’s ever sampled. He had scrambled eggs, hashed browns, sausage, strawberries and funnel cake. The kid was in HEAVEN. After that, a relaxing afternoon at home with mom and dad, getting to rip it up in grand fashion around the living room (we NEED a BABY GATE). That evening, falls asleep in the van only to wake up on papa’s shoulder amidst the greatest place he’s ever seen in his whole 11+ months of life: Toys R Us.

We’ve never taken him there before and we were killing some time and decided to scope out some of the baby toys, for present ideas for Liam’s first next week (DO NOT WANT). Liam came awake and took a look around at the aisles and aisles of toys and I swear to you he actually gasped. You know that intact of air babies sometimes do when they’re laughing? It was like that, but more STUNNED than amused. He was immediately charmed. He laughed and clapped at all the toys we showed him and showed a particular preference for stuffed animals. He would squeal and throw his arms out and hug these stuffed animals, all the time laughing like a maniac. It was the funniest damn thing I’ve ever seen.

After that, we met my sister in law and her husband and her kids at Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. Harry was rapturous and Liam was agog at all the activity and bright lights and screaming children. He got his first taste of pizza, but could hardly concentrate on it for all the gaping he did at everything around him. Kile and I walked around with him, let him ride on some of the kiddie rides and whatnot. He LOVED that. He also had a great time throwing empty soda cups around like a maniac hopped up on speed. That was when I glanced at my watch and noticed it was 9 o’clock. That’s at least an hour past his bedtime, if not two (probably two, considering the long day he’d already had at that point). It was another half hour before we could finally tear the boys away from all the fun. Predictably, Liam conked out in the van. And despite my predictions, he stayed asleep when Kile laid him down upstairs in his crib and didn’t wake up once all night. Maybe that was him thanking me for such an awesome, fantastic day.