When Bar Mitzvahzilla was younger, there was one question he loved to ask me that I never could answer to his satisfaction, yet about which he and Daughter could jabber about for hours. What superpower would I choose if I could have one?
Well, of course this stumped me. While he'd look at me expectantly - just waiting to give me his answer - I'd draw a blank. Invariably I thought of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. What superpowers were those? Since I had to come up with something I'd say the only one I could think of, immortality, and be subjected to my son's scorn. Why in the world would I want to live forever when none of the people I loved would be able to? That was apparently the worst superpower. The best ones? Mutability, Invisibility, Superhuman Strength.
If he asked me today I wouldn't have any problem picking one. Easy. All I'd have to do is think back to the last three weeks since he started high school, since I've looked at my planner each day and found that each one of them contained unresolvable conflicts - two places I actually had to be each day at the same time. Both things invariably for my kids. And important stuff.
So I know which superpower I'd pick: cloning.
Was I living in a cocoon all these years, being the mother of two kids who attended the same private school? The ease and comfort of driving both kids to the same school, having one school calendar, of only having to beg with Husband each morning to take my assigned driving days because, invariably, I had stayed up till two in the morning blogging.
But not anymore. Now Bar Mitzvahzilla has to be off in one direction to arrive at 7:30; Daughter in another to arrive at 7:55. There are the things that we planned that sounded really good during the summer, but in practice? Not so good. Like football everyday after school. Then various Jewish or school-related activities that keep the boy and me hoofing it till 9:00 each night. High school, then home; JCC, then home; tutoring, then home. And back. This, I believe, might just be why people actually buy their teenagers cars.
But here I am, finally. Able to blog after a week and a half. Three whole posts this month.
Now I'll go disappear into my genie bottle until tomorrow.
And what would you pick for your superpower? Ever felt like you've spent the whole day driving, and you weren't on vacation?
Oh, yes. I want a clone, too! My daughters go to different schools and its a real hassle.
ReplyDeletePlus I want another clone that all it gets to do is sleep all day.
BEST SUPER POWER!
I would want to travel in time :) You know, just to warn my past-self of the mistakes I was about to make and to make a little sneak-peak into the future. Although, that would cause a lot of mess since I would be changing my past...so my present time would be affected as well. So, on a second thought, cloning is less problematic :)
ReplyDeleteThe power to convert fat into muscle with the wave of my hand and not have to wave it in multiple sets of 12 while holding heavy objects.
ReplyDeleteAh, I'm happy to have you around more! Mornings are a freakshow around my house, too. I always feel like I'm racing...and yet never getting anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI think I'd like to render myself invisible at will...I could vanish at convenient times, like when I spy cat barf on the floor.
Glad to see you - I was actually beginning to worry. I remember the taxi service days and how nice (albeit scary) it was once the kids could drive themselves. Or be driven by other teens. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteJust to make you feel like two kids in two different schools is nothing ... You will survive! At one point in time about seven years ago, I had a son in college a little over an hour away, three in high school, one in middle school, one in elementary school. At least the high school and middle school are only a half mile apart. The elementary school is five miles in the other direction. LOL! I still don't know how I survived those days.
ReplyDeleteI am so dreading those days. I don't know you do it. Maybe I'll make my kids walk. Or fake some kind of disability which leaves me unable to drive, and I will get the sympathy of the boy's friend's mama's who will then cart them around carpool style. I'm on to something.
ReplyDeleteduh, a money tree! lol.
ReplyDeletethat way you could hire someone to drive your kids around. I wouldn't two of me around in the morning. Things would get ugly...
the superpower question is a big one around our house second only to, 'If you could pick what kind of animal you would be, what would it be?"
To which I always respond either horse or dolphin, depending on my mood.
You are right, that is EXACTLY why they buy their teenager a car.
ReplyDeleteHaving watched Heroes, my ideas abotu superpowers have changed. Peter Petrelli has or had the best superpwer. Each time he came into contact with someone else with a superpower he gained their superpower, He didn't have to hurt them to do it, either. Just being around them did it. So, before you know it he was able to fly, stop time (actually bend time and space), move through solid objects, hear other people's thoughts if he focused, paint the future, and so on. Totally awesome superpower, no? If you could bend time and space you wouldn't need cloning. Besides, a clone could really screw you good by saing or doing something that you totally would no do. Bending time and space would be much safer.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I did tag you last week on HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY. I am just about to start this week's post. I think you might like the post for everyone, as well the posts for mutual friends, but I didn't pick something specifically for you this week. Yeah, I noticed your plate was full...
And, no, I did not proofread my comment. sorry.
ReplyDeleteYep, yep, yep.
ReplyDeleteSuperpower? Superhuman ability to function on all cylinders on 2 hours of sleep. 2 hours worth of dreaming, and 22 hours worth of productivity. I'd borrow a teleporting system for the need to be multiple places at once.
And keep eating spinach, like Popeye.
What you just described is part of why I say "um, nope" when people comment that "surely it must require less parenting as they get older."
Not less, just different. And wheels, wheels, wheels.
That is exactly why we let Chloe's aunt give her a car.
ReplyDeleteWell thank you for bringing it into perspective for me. I was whining because Noah will ride the bus and I will have to drive Zoe this year and start and end times of both schools are conflicting. They are also both playing soccer this year and those practices will take up three days a week and games one. But.... I will still have SOME free time... so, as I said, thanks for putting it into perspective for me! And I'm glad you found a free moment... I miss reading your blogs!
ReplyDeleteWHAT WHAT WHAT does it say Ive read this a few times and can not decide.
ReplyDeletehmmmm.
lack of creativity or longing fer too many?
Methinks the latter.
Linda, I was trying to address your last post with your HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY clip. How you just don't know how to deal with hs kids as a parent. The thing is that they don't really know themselves or each other. I finally got that when I saw this movie when I was in high school. It blew my mind. I was sitting in the theatre watching it and I knew that none of us knew what we were doing. Not really. We were just bumbling around. The people who looked like they had it together probably didn't. Everything was illusion. So, you not knowing how to deal with your son's lunch is not surprising. He doesn't know either. Everything, every day, is a mystery. He is just trying to fit it. Everyone is trying to fit in. And no one knows who to follow. It is the blind leading the blind. So, the rules change every day. Buy THE BREAKFAST CLUB. Maybe he is ready to watch it and it will put hs into some kind of perspective for him.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Supermom! I always wanted to be like Samantha on Bewitched and do that nose twitch to move things around, get rid of a mother-in-law, whatever.
ReplyDeleteI just listened to a podcast on superpowers and was wondering the same thing. After your explanation, I would have to go with cloning, too. Or the ability to never need sleep again.
ReplyDelete