Jun 1, 2014

Dear Parent or Guardian

You know those really organized Moms who keep track of all their kids extracurricular activities, remember when the class snack day is, know when the field trips are (and where they are going), and just generally have it goin’ on?

Yeah - I’m not one of those Moms.

I’m the Mom who forgot preschool “Wear Red Day” for four years straight - two years with each kid. Well - actually I remembered for Claire’s second year of preschool, but didn’t want to break my perfect losing record, so I sent her to school in pink instead.

I’m THAT Mom.

To wit, I have a stack of mail from the school, all addressed “To Parent or Guardian”. My thought has always been, if it were really important, it would have my name on it. For the most part, my theory has served me well. Not perfection, but I’m aiming more for middle-of-the-road anyway.

At 8 o’clock this evening, I’m sorting through my stacks of school mail, my letters from the college, my work stuff, and all Claire’s medical crap, trying to find out when the 5th grade field trip is. Claire is very much looking forward to this trip, and I am worried it’s on the same day she’s going to Ann Arbor for her angiogram.

As I’m shuffling through the detritus of at least 100 murdered trees, I find yet another “To a Parent or Guardian” letter. It was sent to me back on May 20th, and I am fairly certain that I didn’t look at this letter, because it is the one notifying me that Claire is going to be a recipient of the President’s Award for Educational Achievement.

What the... what?

Claire? My Claire? My sweet, hard-working kid who has practically killed herself simply to remain on honor roll since her surgery and despite all her strokes? That Claire? The one who dropped from an A+ to a D in Social Studies this trimester, and has worked her butt off to bring it back up to a B in the past week? That kid? But... she’s not all A’s. She barely managed to get herself back onto the A/B honor roll.

And then I read this:

“The purpose of this award is to recognize students that show outstanding educational growth, improvement, commitment or intellectual development in their academic subjects but do not meet the criteria for the President's Award for Educational Excellence. The criteria for this award is:


  • Show tremendous growth but did not meet all the criteria for the President's Award for Educational Excellence.
  • Demonstrate unusual commitment to learning in academics despite various obstacles.
  • Maintain a school record that would have met the school's selection criteria for the President's Award for Educational Excellence but illness, personal crisis, or special needs prevented the student from maintaining such high standards despite hard work.”


Oh. Okay. Yep - that’s my kid. Holy crap! She’s getting an award! She had no idea! I had no idea! We need to get her a dress. We need to get me a dress. HOLY CRAP!

She went to bed floating on a cloud of academic achievement. I’m sitting on my bed, typing this post, floating on my own cloud of parental pride.  Except...

Can someone please tell me when the 5th grade field trip is? Because I’m still THAT Mom.

1 comment: