27 April 2006

I just sent my baby away

I've been feeling a bit run-down this week, so I was planning to take a nap after work today. Instead I was whipped into a frenzy of activity by a call from M's band instructor as soon as we pulled into the driveway. M had been invited to go on the band's annual weekend trip to Atlanta a few months' ago. This is an 8th-grade trip, but a few outstanding 7th-grade students are invited if there is room. Unfortunately, we knew we couldn't scrape up the cash quickly enough to pay for M's ticket by the deadline so we declined. Today, a student backed out whose ticket had already been paid by a local church fundraiser. The instructor didn't want the ticket to go to waste so he called to see if M could go.

Since the band is leaving at 7:30a tomorrow, we had to do a quick job of getting M ready. Phone calls to ABM, e-mails to get a copy of the itinerary, lectures to M about how to behave while she is on a school trip -- my head is now about to burst. I'm such a laid-back parent that I am sure I forgot to ask the instructor something that a more responsible parent would have thought of right away. I'm not going to stress about that. M has my cell phone, I have the cell numbers of all the chaperones, and ABM and I both have relatives in the ATL.

My real concern is how she will relate to the other girls. M has matured a bit in the past few months, but we are still dealing with things like hygiene issues. I was an unpopular kid in school and I don't want her to make herself unpopular by being the smelly girl. She is also more innocent than your average 13-year-old. I hope those 8th-grade girls won't pick at her and call her a baby.

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