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My parents pretty much saved my sanity this past weekend, and I would like to publicly thank them for their assistance. I certainly hope that they enjoyed their time and their grandchildren (I am aware that I was probably not the best company), but the services they rendered simply cannot be overlooked.

Parenthood is filled with many joys, love, wonders, and warm fuzzies.

It is also filled with lots of driving, and occasionally the need for colocation (shout-out to @gwenix for that term).

In the normal course of things, I am fine with this. But this weekend came uncomfortably close to testing my limits.

Kate graduated from preschool on Friday, and Flora had a gymnastic show on Saturday. Flora also had rehearsal for her gymnastic show on Friday (5 to 7 p.m.!), and a birthday party on Saturday. I was also planning to take the girls to the musical at Flora’s grade school Sunday afternoon.

Friday, I was scheduled to leave work at 4 p.m. (I had started the day extra early), but I ended up leaving at 3:45 because I had forgotten that Flora actually needed a meal in between her pick up from school and rehearsal. I had planned ahead and gotten her clothes together so she could change after school, but I hadn’t thought about food.

Like me, my children, when hungry, are an angry force to be reckoned with.

So I drove through a McDonalds, requesting a kids’ meal with a cheeseburger — minus the burger. They got it backwards, and instead of giving me a bun with cheese, they gave me a patty with cheese and no bun. #fastfoodFAIL

And then, when I got to the school it turned out that I had packed Flora’s sneakers, but had forgotten to actually put her clothes in her backpack. #momFAIL

She did, however, thank me for the french fries and apple fries as we were driving. She checked out the burger situation, thinking maybe she would eat the cheese, but ultimately decided against that.

Right around this time I tweeted, “I need a fucking wrinkle in time. #tesseract”. Flora was supposed to be at her rehearsal at 4:45 p.m. Fortunately, my parents were already scheduled to pick up Kate and Michael, plus take out dinner that I had already ordered. When I unexpectedly pulled up in a big ole hurry at 4:35, they were already at the house.

My dad, unassumingly, decided he would take Flora to her rehearsal and pick up dinner and bring it home and we’d eat and then he would pick her up from rehearsal and take her to Kate’s graduation.

And that’s pretty much what happened. (I should’ve given him more exact directions; his GPS took him the long way — of course.) But at least I was free to concentrate of the star of the evening, Kate. (Who, at graduation, introduced herself using every name she has: Kate Kathryn Castle Mangine.)

My parents also took Kate on Saturday afternoon, running her around Point State Park with her cousins, while M napped and Dan drove Flora to her birthday party (he also picked her up and shopped for some dinner items). All-in-all, I had tons of backup this weekend, including my ILs, Dan, and my parents, and my children were properly feted, and we even got some shopping done (after seeing Suessical Jr. at Flora’s school on Sunday — day of rest, my butt).

++

Side notes: Dan and I talked a lot about last Friday’s post, and some conclusions we need to draw from it. I know whatever happens, I have that man in my corner, and that means the world to me.

Also, speaking of my butt, between sitting in a padded pew for Kate’s graduation, perching on bleachers for Flora’s gymnastic show, and sitting in hard folding chairs at the play Sunday, my back, bum, and upper legs are very unhappy with me. May have to move up that next chiropractic appointment!

Finally, at the start of Flora’s gymnastic show, they had a vaulting routine involving about 30 girls, ranging in age from (I’m guessing) 10 to 18. It was AMAZING, watching those bodies fly through the air (no exaggeration). And, um, I cried quite a lot. I’m still trying to put my finger on why.

So, how was *your* weekend? Who steps up for you the most when you need it?