If Day One was all about nerves and tears-before-breakfast, Day Two was… well, let’s just say it was an adventure.
The girls jumped right into their lessons this morning like champs. Jayme especially wasn’t interested in breaks—she just kept trucking along, determined to power through. Part of me thought, Wow, maybe we’ve already found our rhythm. (Spoiler: we had not.)
Meanwhile, life outside of school didn’t hit pause just because we did. Neil was gone, a piece of equipment broke, and I had three guys in the shop processing meat. Add homeschooling to the mix, and let’s just say I was doing my best impression of Gumby—being pulled in every direction, except Gumby never had anyone yelling “Mom!” at him every three minutes.
We limped through the day, but not without casualties. Today was the first day one of us broke down in tears—and it wasn’t just me. Poor Jayme hit a wall with one of her tougher classes, and when the frustration bubbled over, she just broke. After a break, she came back to it, but her resolve was about as strong as soggy toast. She got a “40% for effort” rating from Mom. (Sometimes that’s just where we land.)
Later, when Neil took the girls to jiu jitsu, I found myself alone in the car and had my own little cry. I usually love chaos, bouncing from one problem to the next, but today it felt different—like the chaos wasn’t mine to control, it was just taking me for a ride. It was one of those I can’t keep up, I’m not built for this kind of moments.
But let me say this: the guys in the shop? Absolute rockstars. They crushed it today, which was one small relief in the middle of my circus. Emails, social media, other work meetings? Yeah, those didn’t happen. I even skipped one mandatory meeting because, honestly, the idea of one more responsibility made me want to crawl under the table.
So here we are. Two days in, already cried in the car, and already questioning my sanity. But the kids learned, the meat got processed, and we survived another day. I’ll call that a win… or at least a pass.