Avery and her lunch are a puzzle, one of those 2000 piece puzzles to be exact. You know the ones where every piece looks to be the same shape and colour and it is next to impossible to put together. That's Avery and her lunch bag. I heard Lynda tell Avery that her lunch was packed and I even watched as Avery peered inside to see what wonders her mom had buried in the bag today. Somehow, within the 30 seconds that followed, Avery walked out the door without her lunch! Somehow the 13 year old brain has a disconnect between what it is supposed to do and what it actually does.
Avery is a great kid and an equally great student. She has never been sent to the principal's office for bad behaviour but she does visit there often to retrieve her lunch bag after it gets dropped off by Lynda or me. Come to think of it, there have been a few occasions when Avery has also gotten out of my car at school and left her schoolbag on the backseat. Despite the forgetfulness I am not too worried about it being a medical condition or anything other than a teenage phase that she will eventually outgrow. At this stage in her life it is all a matter of priorities: forgetting a book bag - she's smart enough to get by without it for a day or buddy up with a classmate; forgetting her lunch bag - mom or dad always deliver anyhow; forgetting her cellphone - never ever has happened and probably never will. After all, she is 13 not 50 (like her old man).
Now let's explore this morning's exploits of Avery's older sister. The hangover Kendall is experiencing is from five days of a swim binge in Halifax. Being careful to eat healthily, sleeping the appropriate number of hours each night, and resting between the twice daily racing sessions would throw even the most seasoned Newfie binger off her game. It can't be natural to be so good. She certainly didn't get it from me.
Kendall seemed fine when she arrived home yesterday afternoon. She was happy and joking around with the rest of the family. As an aside I have to show you what wonders can be done by a smartphone in the hands of a skilled teenage operator. Yesterday, Kendall took a photo of her mom and dad and did this (somehow). Creepy but cool. I like to call it:
Jynda & Lim
A different girl showed up this morning. Kendall decided to ditch early morning swim practice and she only gave us a pillow muffled moan when we tried to get her up so she could get ready for school. Overnight she seemed to lose the ability to use the English language and also became body-glued to her mattress. She did manage to mumble something about not feeling well. Lynda and I have seen this before, the day following the last couple of travel meets she has been on, so we knew exactly what to do. Lynda would hound her to get up and inform her that there would be no more travel meets if she missed school upon her return.
Stuff like that is better left to the unique relationship between mother and daughter. Being in the middle of a battle of wits between mother and teenage daughter is no place for me. I like to avoid confrontation, even when it employs the gentle kind of tactics that Lynda would be using to get Kendall to school this very day. So what did I do? I grabbed Avery and hustled here out the door to the car. She was lucky she already had her coat on and schoolbag in hand as a hasty exit was my main goal. Going back for her forgotten lunch bag just wasn't an option. Come to think of it, perhaps I was a little too rough on Avery in the earlier part of today's story. Maybe it wasn't entirely her fault that she was off to school today without her lunch. That explains today but not the umpteen other times the lunch was left at home. Today is my fault, I admit it.
Lynda just texted me to advise Kendall made it to school. I am now wondering if it was really such a good idea to have sent her today. I am worried that we may be getting a call from the Department of Child Youth and Family Services. After all, we did send one kid to school today who was hungover and the other with no food. I ain't taking the fall for any of this. If they ask me I will just tell them that Jynda and Lim did it.
