Lessons from Pajama Days

When Caleb was in sixth grade, his first delicate year of middle school, his mother, my wife, insisted that he take part in his middle school spirit week. He begrudgingly agreed and trusted her to dictate to him the daily spirit week attire. That was the last week that Caleb participated in spirit week, it may have also been the last time Caleb trusted his mother to dictate anything to him. The week included crazy sock day, purple pride day, and pajama day, that was the day that caused the problem. It was while fully dressed in his pajamas that Andrea drove him up in the oval for drop-off that he, and his spirited mother, noticed that most everyone seemed to be dressed in purple and almost no one, except Caleb, was dressed in their pajamas. Caleb, being the trooper that he is, stayed at school even as a repentant mother offered to run him home to change to purple. He survived a day in his completely non-purple pajamas on purple pride, and not pajama, day.

Today was my unintentional pajama day. Last Friday Caleb was scheduled to participate in a jr. high tennis tournament in Edmond but with the approaching ice and snow storm the event was moved to Monday. Yesterday we received a quick phone call giving us instructions regarding the tournament scheduled for today which included the transportation details. So, this morning the alarm went off at 6:00am and I went to wake Caleb to get ready so we could meet his ride at 7:00am. I then returned to bed for what I assumed would be an additional forty minutes of sleep. I had forgotten the extremely strong "be there early" gene which is passed down from Papa Bob. I was awakened at 6:25am with instructions that it was time to go. I slowly rolled out of bed and pulled my coat over my sleeping clothes (that is what an almost 49 year old man calls his pajamas....especially when they consist of a torn up, and holey, old long sleeve t-shirt and too short and weird pants). I assumed that I would soon be back home to bathe and dress (I had squeezed in tooth brushing thankfully), I assumed wrong. We arrived at the tennis court at least 15 minutes early thanks to Papa and his strong genes. We sat in the parking lot all alone for fifteen minutes wondering if anyone else would show up. At 7:00am Caleb's doubles partner showed up but no one else. Finally at 7:20am we reached someone on the phone who we thought would know something but found that he actually knew nothing, including what had happened to the ride. So, at 7:20am I put the car in drive and headed for a forty minute plus drive attempting to get there by 8:00am. We stopped by grandma's house for her GPS, since I had no idea where I was going, then darted north soon hitting a major accident backup on the highway and finally arriving at the tournament where it was obvious that I would not be able to escape back home. What made things even better was that Caleb and his partner had a win which prolonged my pajama day. It got hot and I was in a heavy coat, a coat that could not come off due to a manly sleeping shirt being what was beneath the jacket. I survived my pajama day with hopes that it will be my last.

I learned a couple of things thanks to pajama day:
1. Always brush your teeth and put on your shoes when you leave the house. I actually did this today but there are days that I drop off the kids ...at least without shoes.
2. Put on a public approved shirt before going anywhere, unless you want to look "scary tough" or at least "scary".....or are willing to stay in a heavy coat in Oklahoma spring temperatures.
3. Take something to do while you are not at home taking a shower and dressing. I did learn that Oklahoma has the top five worst hunger rate, a top divorce rate, and that Julia Sweeney had a revelation from God that helped her survive a messy breakup leading her to a renewal of faith and then she read the Bible and was disillusioned by the answers her priest gave her about the parts of the Bible she didn't like and then she read Deepak Chopra who led her to science and so she is now an atheist who explains her revelation from God as a mere work of her frontal globes thanks to her new found knowledge of science.....oh, I also learned that Barak made the CEO of GMC resign and told the folks at Chrysler they had to make a deal with Fiat.
4. Always make the transportation plans for your kids yourself.

Here I Dwell, showered and dressed,
Rick