Fashionably Late

Random picture of the boys and their cousin Chloe from a Spring-like day last week

Fashionably Late.  Who came up with that idea?!?  In my opinion, there is nothing "fashionable" about being late.  I am almost always on time (even with 3, soon to be 4) kids.  Another thing is that my "on time" means that I am 10-15 minutes ahead of the scheduled time.  If I am 5 minutes or less away from that time, I feel like I am late.  As a rule, I'm generally the first one of a group to arrive.

For example, the other night, a group of moms was meeting at a cafe for drinks and dessert.  I got there early and when the designated time to arrive came and went I thought nothing of it.  When another five minutes went by, I started to wonder, was I in the right place?  Surely, another person would be here by now.  Maybe I was just seated in an area different from the group and I had missed everybody.  No, that was not the case....nobody else was there yet.  Does this make me the weird one?

When it comes to events like parties and such, I try my best not to arrive more than 5 minutes or so ahead of time.  I don't want to stress out the host by arriving too early and them not being prepared.  Once I arrive, of corse I offer to help with anything the host may need done, but some people I've found prefer to do things themselves.  To delay my arrival, this usually involves either one or a combination of the following:

1. stopping for gas
2. driving under the speed limit
3. circling the block a few times
4. sitting in my car pretending to "do" something before slowly walking out

If I'm taking the kids they have their own ways of ensuring that mommy is not too early including:

1. The oldest one needing to poop.
2. The middle one needing to poop.
3. The baby needing a diaper change.
4. Once everybody is buckled in the car, remembering a much beloved item that has to come with us, or the world will end.

Funny how that works.  We always have bathroom breaks prior to departing, and yet #1, #2, & #3 are the main reasons that I'm closer to "on time" than I'd like to be.

So that about sums up my thoughts on being Fashionably Late.  Perhaps this baby is going to teach me the joy in being fashionably late (but I hope not).  Right now they are teaching me patience, and I could always use more of that.