Superwoman I am NOT! Mario Andretti? I might be...

Ohhh how awesome is that first day back from 4 day vacation (dripping in sarcasm here!)

Of course today would also be the completely inconveniently scheduled date my daughter was to audition for her chair spot at the Metro Honor Orchestra.  Lo and behold, we were the lucky recipients of slot #3, aligning with 3:36 pm at a school I've never been to and which is (per google maps) approximately 15 min from her school.   For perspective, on a regular work day, I usually work till 4:30 or 5 and am often in meetings clear till the end of my day.  Sadly, even though I cut my meeting off short and left more work to resolve when I get back tomorrow, I STILL arrived late to pick up Bella from her school.  And while she told me she had to be 15 min early to the tryout, I figured they had only said that to ensure parents were at least on time.   BUT NO... there was a checklist of items each attendee was supposed to do in those 15 pre-tryout minutes which I found out about ENROUTE to the event.

 FFFFFFUUUCCCKKKKKKK....

So....

Speeding every bit of the way and cornering on just 2 wheels (sorry if I rode your ass on C Ave, you should at least go speed limit in left lane!!!), lets say I actually got to building at 3:36 (it was pretty damned close).  I told girl at the check-in desk that we were late and she shrugged it off and told us to go ahead and warm up and then head back to audition when we were ready, which we did.  I refused to let Bella go in without at least practicing the few bars through once.  Alas, I didn't make sure she got tuned as the place was pretty much chaos with 40+ kids warming up all over the area and not a lot of direction to be had.

We arrived to audition room 8 minutes late.  She was in audition room for 1 minute tops.  She comes out and says she's done.  Then she proceeds to choke back tears while putting her instrument away.  So I am trying to figure out what besides my stressed-out-ness is driving her mood.  It comes out that she feels her orchestra teacher is disappointed in her for being late and not tuned and she feels like she didn't do her best.  By this time, I am BEYOND LIVID.  As in seeing red.  As in wanting to march back into that room telling them where they can shove their perfectly tuned cellos that get off work at 3 fucking 30 in the afternoon.

<deep breath>

Why?  Why why why why?  Why did I let myself be tied into someone else's completely unrealistic expectations?  In hind site, I should have emailed teacher as soon as I got the time notification and let them know that it would not work/request reschedule.  On a broader note, I wish the school system would operate around the reality that the majority of homes have either single or dual parents working full time and that pickup/appointment times before 4 drive schedule coordination challenges.

Maybe I don't have the correct prioritization of work/home figured out, does anyone ever get this figured out?  I know I sure am getting tired of having to make these calls to choose between the two.

I'm now headed to go soak in the tub in an attempt to detox from this stressful debacle, hoping that when Bella comes out of her room she recognizes that even though her mom isn't Superwoman, she's trying her very best.