You Know Tomorrow May Not Be a Great Day When....

1) You have a Parent Teacher Conference for Son#3 the next day.

2) You get an e-mail from a friend right before you go to bed that you have a Memorial Service to go to the next day.

3) When you get the kid's clothes out for the next day and you realize you can't find Son#3's shoes... they cannot be in the house and it's too dark to search outside.

Yeah. It fully lived up to all expectations.

The Parent Teacher Conference went as poorly as I expected and then some. Not blogging material yet. It still needs to settle in.

The Memorial Service was for a friend of mine's father and although he had been ill for years, it still came as a surprise. But, really, seriously, are we ever really ready for a parent to pass? No. When she saw me, she grabbed on to me and I hugged her as hard as I could as she seemed to be trying to derive sustaining energy from me. I felt awful. But I felt more awful when she grabbed my hand and said, "Oh wait. You have to come see Daddy and see what a great job they did. Doesn't he look wonderful?" I must have said something right as it brought a comforting squeeze to my hand but I was thinking, "Wonderful? I think he looks dead." I think I made a comment about liking his suit.

Son#3's shoes are history. Not salvageable. Better Half found them in the driveway as he was taking Son#3 to school. They had been sitting next to a sprinkler so they were full of puddled rotten egg smelling well water. I put them in the laundry room, thinking nothing of it, only to come back from dropping Sons 1 and 2 off at school, walking back in the house and thinking, "My God! What has died in this room?" only to realize it was his shoes. Luckily we had one spare pair... which is much luck as my kids each typically only own one pair. Sneakers or barefeet... that is all boys need.

So all and all, not a great day. I'm trying to laugh about it all now. A good shoe burning would do it. Not even the Gold Bond Foot Powder can save them this time.