Adventures in Carline

For the last 2 years, my job was helping to start and run a charter high school. I just stopped over the summer. There wasn't much of the business that I didn't have direct involvement in; it was a HUGE job to get that place off the ground. I love the kids there and I really do miss interacting with them, now that they are back there and I'm not. But the final prompt to leave was from Rio, who said what I had been thinking for a while: "Mom, I'd really like you to pick me up at carline after school instead of my staying to play in aftercare." How can one NOT throw every stable pattern up in the air and risk life falling apart to comply with such a request? We get one run through this life, and the 9 year old wants more energy and time from his mom. I know that a mom is potentially the most influential person in one's life. Mom status is powerful, and I absolutely love the adventure of it, Probably even more so because I really didn't have any interest in being one until I actually became one, which makes the whole experience truly an adventure, because I didn't spend any time imagining "when I'm a mother..." like most girls and women do.


Now that I am back from AK, I bring Rio to school each morning and go back home to do work, and every afternoon I drive back for him at 3:00. It sounds so much like just a task, but so far each drive I feel this huge wave of gratitude that I am available for him. I am rested, not rushed, I can be nicer in the morning because I am not also trying to get myself prepped with makeup and clothing and lunch and all the things that I needed to be prepared for MY day. I now listen better to what he is saying when he talks about his day in the car. We are both totally happy to see each other when I drive up, like when you pick up a good friend. It's nice to really like your child, and have it be mutual. And I feel so good as a person knowing I am actually fulfilling on my committment to him that I would figure it out for this school year to meet HIS reqest for all this.

He has told me repeatedly how great this is for him. I feel somewhat insecure financially since I've disrupted the classic paycheck flow for the first time that I can recall in my years of "jobs," and instead now only get paid for the work I buckle down and DO as a contractor. But each day Rio and I really connect and don't rush, I just know there is no way everything won't be perfectly fine. The way this feels, there's no place in the world that is more right for me to be at this time in his life. He started 4th grade, and shares the room with 5th and 6th graders... They are 11 and 12... I just spent two years with kids just past that age -- I know what kids are exposed to now, and just how young it can happen. Being with the "bigger kids," he is now going to be exposed to all that next phase of life input. It's not just about that, he is also rapidly developing more complex thinking patterns, and it's really more and more fun to hang out with both his little brain and heart. I'm going to be right there to have lots of conversations amidst Cheerios, fun stuff together, homework, PS2 games, exotic adventures, and Trader Joe stops as we veer neer the rapids of adolescence.

We really CAN improve the planet one person at a time (you know, the starfish story thing), and I choose to do it first with Rio.