One of the changes this term has been that the school bus now drops off/picks up my Cherub from work. This has made an unbelievable difference to our daily life - no stop-start mornings an afternoons is one difference. The other is that I am able to give my Cherub some 'real work' to do each morning and afternoon (turning on the printers, drawing the blinds, packing some sample packs) which allows him to earn some pocket money and which he is keen to do. It's been good for his self esteem. So too has the socialising skills - hello and goodbye to the team when he arrives in the afternoon.
Last week after a 'Frantic Friday', Cherub got off the bus, spent his afternoon 20 minutes at the office and it was time for us to go. Or so I thought.
I reached into my handbag to get my keys and they weren't there. No panic....yet. Searched the desk, the drawers, the floor. No keys. No panic....yet.
Went into the changeroom where my uniform trousers were hanging up, to feel in the pockets. No keys. Slight panic.
Another search (with the help of some office colleagues) showed no sign of the keys. More panic.
The panic wasn't really about not finding the keys, it was more because it was such a mind-fuck....I work in a single room, don't go anywhere, hadn't travelled in the car all day, and still couldn't find my keys.
Cherub had started with a quiet "Oh no! We're not going to be able to go home" - quiet but sure to elevate the longer I couldn't find the keys. I was attempting to stay calm and reassuring, with the gentle "We'll find them, don't worry", all the while thinking that for some bizarre reason the keys had disappeared forever.
"Maybe you left them in the car" suggested Cherub.
Hoping like Hell that I hadn't (I have one of those old cars that you have to break into if you lock your keys in) I walked out to the car to check. Nope, not in the ignition.
But, due to the fact that in our rush that morning I had actually left the car unlocked, I noticed that Cherub had put his school bag and his swimming bag onto the back seat as we got off the bus.
One shake was all it took - keys found in the bottom of Cherub's swimming bag. They'd travelled with him ALL DAY, on the bus and into the school room.
Thankfully there was no swimming that day, and he hadn't had to empty the swimming bag - God knows where the keys would have ended up if he'd had to take out the contents of the bag to get changed.
And then I realised how it had happened: when we arrived at work that morning (in a rush) I had to let a visitor in through the front door. I quickly gave Cherub the car keys as I fumbled with the 'work' keys to let the visitor in. Too preoccupied with being a perfect host and making sure that the visitor was well settled, I didn't notice that Cherub had instinctively just put the keys in the swimming bag that was slung over his shoulder. He went about doing his morning office jobs and then headed off onto the bus to school....complete with keys tucked away inside his towel.
Could have been a WHOLE lot worse (thoughts of having an emergency during the day that required the use of my car to get to a hospital or whatever went through my head), but it wasn't, so I was thankful for that.
And I shall never give the keys to Cherub to hold again.
Talk later
Janeane
xx
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