parenting

yesterday i caught the briefest of glimpses into the real world of being a parent.

i was at 7-11 getting my usual big gulp action and i saw a mother and her young child picking out slurpee flavors. i remember getting slurpees as a kid was the ultimate awesome thing, so i could understand the excitement involved.

anyway, he goes immediately for the mountain dew slurpee and instantly the mom is like "oh i don't know... that has a lot of caffeine in it. don't you want to try another flavor?" for about 5 minutes she's trying to extol the virtues of the various other slurpee flavors, all while doing the math in her head. okay, if i let him have the mountain dew slurpee - it's 4:00 now, bed time is at 9:00, will he still be completely wired?

i was kinda chuckling to myself thinking about how that's just one of the many things you have to be always thinking about when you're a parent. can i afford to have a hyper child for the next 2-3 hours? meanwhile here i am filling up a big gulp praying for the same effect in order to help me make it through the rest of the workday.

fortunately, the big gulp did the trick. sadly, i had to stay at the office till 8:00pm last night. it was a particularly brutal day and i'm glad it's over. now it's time to start anew. i have a fresh caffeinated beverage and no mom encouraging me to not drink it. let's hope today is a lot better.