Suburban Subversive

I am a bad mother. I let my kid down and I don't even feel sorry.

Jack really wanted to play flag football. But I missed the sign up date. He did make the waiting list but unless I was willing to coach a flag football team (I am not) there wasn't any space for him.

I felt really bad. Until my evil brain reminded me that this means no practices, no games, no canceling plans because of a game conflict, no team mom job this fall, no snack schedules, no team party to plan, etc. No trying to cram homework, dinner, practice in before bedtime. Oh, I felt bad but it felt sooooo good!

It feels gooooood to have no sport commitment. I drive by the park and see teams practicing. There's a twinge of guilt in my heart, but my mind screams "Not me! Not this season!" 

Suddenly we have Saturdays! We might even have a Saturday with NOTHING to do! The possibilities seem endless. We could take a family bike ride. We could hike. We could golf. (Those of you who know me well can stop laughing now. I'm sure Dean would love to do these things with his sons.)

It's sad that this is what passes for subversive behavior in the suburbs: I didn't sign my kid up for a team sport. It seems almost incomprehensible to some. Frequently I just get a blank stare when someone asks what sport the boys are playing this season and I answer "none."

Sign-ups for Winter Basketball are now. The season starts in January. That seems so far away. Will we have had enough of Saturdays? Will we be willing to hand them back to team sports? Will I be able to get away with "oh, I missed the sign ups" again?

Procrastination

Tonight is Movie Theater night at Pinetree. I'm in charge of the games and prizes (why did we think it was a great idea to create a giant, blow-out end-of-the-year event out of this?!). In about 20 minutes I have to go start cooking the hot dogs for who-knows-how-many people. I'm also planning the team parties for the kids' baseball teams (with coach gifts, etc.)... And I'm working on the teacher gift for Neil's preschool. I have to plan the end-of-the-year stuff for Jack's class too and collect for a teacher's gift.

In an attempt to ignore the fact that I'm doing too much right now, I'm blogging about it. It's not really relieving the stress. I need to lay down.

There's no hope for me

I volunteered again... It's a deadly disease, but how do you resist when you see a need?

Stop me before I volunteer again

I offer this fantasy of a friend:

My friend is considering moving to be closer to family and to live somewhere with a lower cost of living. But she daydreams about moving and how great it would be to end all of her volunteer committments. She dreams of freedom. She dreams of putting her girls in already-established Girl Scout troops vs. the TWO she has formed. She dreams of not being the foundation president of her school (having also founded the foundation). She dreams of not being pressured to be PTA president. She dreams of not being on the committee in charge of countless fundraisers. She dreams of being a mom with time for her children.

I know exactly how she feels. I'm sure a lot of women do. When my husband was job hunting and the offer came from Portland, my mind was reeling with the possibilities of no longer being responsible for x, y and z (and some more of the alphabet).

With current budget woes at home and in every budget across the nation, every activity or place your child goes to is in desperate need of funds -- school, church, sports, scouts, dance, whatever. Everyone needs volunteers and fundraisers.

I am presently school site council chair, room mom, baseball team mom for two teams, basketball team mom, Reflections chairperson, PTA parliamentarian and I'm sure there are a couple more that I am forgetting about because I do them automatically and don't even think about it any more.

Many moms I know can list just as much if not more. My oldest has only reached third grade. We have a lot of years left.

Is there really a stage in life where our "fantasies" are NOT volunteering for something?!