Build It and We MIGHT Come

We have kinda chosen a certain level of mediocrity here at our house that is nonetheless hard to maintain!  I know my kids aren't going to graduate from Harvard magna cum laud with a double major in astrophysics and piano performance, but I'm hoping they won't drop out of high school to bar-tend, either.
When I imagine what I want for our kids, I try to organize each day, each month and each school year toward my vision of success.  And then we all fall short, of course, every single day.  What I need is a bunch of kids whose parents are complete slackers to be my kids' classmates so that we can pat ourselves on the back if we remember to turn in our homework packets.  What I see is a bunch of kids whose parents are totally on the ball, kids who always turn in all of their homework and even have time to enter the Reflections contest!  Where do parents find the time to read all those guidelines, buy all the materials and then remember to turn their inventions in on time with the forms filled out and signed?  Ari had to build a volcano this week.  It took all week, and it was still wet when she turned it in!  It was all we could do to add that to our list of obligations, and we had to put up with Ptolemy smelling like a muskrat from lack of attention to accomplish it.

Xanthe now has to do math online.  I can never remember the password and I always put it off until the last day.  It has become a huge thorn in my side, along with turning in Ari's "Monday Folder" on Tuesdays and remembering on Fridays when Freestone read out loud that week so that he can turn in his log on Mondays.  (Wouldn't it be easier if we had the log to fill in as we went along?)  Maybe not, since I keep forgetting to have Xanthe fill in the pumpkins on her reading chart when she reads.  I have to make each pumpkin look different on the day it's due so it doesn't look like we filled them all in that morning, which, uh, we did.

Ruby stayed home from school yesterday because her knee hurt so badly.  At the end of the day, she said it felt much better after not having to slog around the school carrying a heavy bag, not to mention participating in gym class!  It made me so sad that she is suffering to gain success, and sacrificing what she really loves - ballet - to prop up her grades.  If we let our guard down for a minute, we pay.  If we get behind, we can't regain our footing.  There is no time for injury, no room for rest, no margin for error.  Of course, I could pull all the kids out of all their extra-curricular activities, including the three or four church activities we have every week (YW, scouts, activity days, ward parties...).  But these are MY kids and there are things I want to educate them in, things I think are essential, things that will bring them joy...and scholarships.  So we add those to the list, and we add the things the kids are passionate about, and we add the social and family obligations.  These are not things that are frivolous.  We have a plan here, but it's freakin' hard!

I got a call yesterday about Young Women's volleyball and how Ruby was supposed to be there in 15 minutes.  I said, "Sorry, we just don't do volleyball.  And Ruby is injured anyway."  And the leader said, "But isn't Ruby the Beehive president?"  Do you see why we can't just opt out?  I stood my ground on volleyball, though, like I do - believe it or not - on so many other things.  When people say to me, "I don't know how you do it all," I am at a loss for words.  We don't and we can't.  So just a note to all the math worksheets, volleyball games, hastily rescheduled church activities, gym classes and volcanos:  We are doing our best.  Take it or leave it.

Build it and we will come.  Or NOT.  And speaking of old movies, please excuse us while we take some time off to watch White Nights, my favorite movie from the '80's, starring Mikhail Baryshnikov.  For extra credit in Golda's dance class, of course.