Last night we were minutes away from closing. We’d even pulled the front gate closed and were ringing up the last of the customers when we got the call. Someone desperately needed some of our tiny dice and was driving like mad from Petaluma, which is 15 minutes from here. She’d just gotten on the freeway and wanted to know if we could PLEASE OH PLEASE just stay open a few minutes longer. I said sure, I’ve been there before myself. So I was paying it forward. I’m all magnanimous like that. I let the other employees go home, no use having everyone hang around for a $3 sale.
She walked through the door at exactly 6:14 pm. No problem, she picked out what she wanted, I rang her up, and locked up behind her as she drove away. I went to gather up my personal belongings and noticed I’d missed a call. I checked my voice mail and there was the message no parent wants to hear: Hi, this is Pam. Just wondering if you were going to pick Skye up today. Please give me a call.
OMG. I forgot my daughter at daycare!! She’s supposed to be picked up by 6:15!! I’ve been taking her there since she was two and I completely blanked it. Now, in my defense, the older kids have been picking her up for the past couple of months. And she’d been home the last two weeks. So picking her up was out of my normal routine.
But all I could think was “I’ve just become one of those mom’s who leaves their kid in the car!”
I just kissed that Mom of the Year Award goodbye. Again.
Epic Mom Fail
Aw, c’mon, keep the award. She was fine at daycare; it’s not a hot car. I left my boy at kindergarten once, myself. Everyone gets one free pass.