Last Day of School

Want to know what Field Day in Michigan is like? It’s COLD! Bone-chilling, finger-numbing, 43 degrees, dad-gum C-O-L-D!

Yesterday was May 22. May 22. It’s supposed to be warm on May 22. But because I live in Michigan, the thought that it could be chilly in the morning did cross my mind so I put a coat/sweatshirt on each of my short-sleeved clad-children. Unfortunately, I didn’t put a coat on myself. I even toyed with wearing capris but changed my mind at the last minute and put on jeans. Thank goodness.

We got to the park and the wind was just whipping down the field. All the moms were standing in the middle of the field trying to soak in the warmth from the sun that the wind wasn’t blowing away.

Long-time Michigan residents had coats, hats and gloves stored in the back of their cars. I saw lots of the moms walking from the parking lot to the field with arms full of winter apparel. The only thing I had in the back of my car was two boxes of granola bars and a bunch of papers I need to sort through and then throw away but haven’t done so yet.

We got through the base running, rope jumping, shuttle running, soccer ball kicking and basketball dribbling in two hours. In that amount of time I lost all feeling in the tips of my fingers.

When the games were finished we all raced back to our cars where I cranked up my heated seats and sat on my hands, hoping to thaw my fingers enough so I could drive to the bowling alley for part two of The Last Day of School funfest.

Two of Amy’s friends rode over to the bowling alley with us; man, can 9 year-old girls talk. They talked and talked and talked and talked! Poor Michael was in the back with them and he just sat in silence until we pulled into the parking lot.

We ate pizza and bowled for two hours. And I yawned and yawned, I think, because I finally thawed out and realized I’d shivered so much that my muscles were just exhausted. I was sitting with another mom and she said she felt the same way.

But the day wasn’t over; we headed back to school for Rebecca’s ballet lesson. Rebecca does love ballet; she loves Mrs. Michelle, her teacher, but I think she really loves her ballet skirt most of all.

So ballet was over, good-byes were said and we were off … to the doctor’s office because Amy’s throat had been hurting for two days. She was diagnosed with bronchitis (which I hope isn’t contagious), was given a prescription and we headed for home. Of course, we had to stop at the pharmacy first to get the prescription filled, but we finally made it home around 5:30.

Wow, what a day. I am definitely ready for summer. Now I’m just wondering when we can put our winter clothes away?