Come On Now

Moving is disorienting. All your patterns change and you feel like a stranger to your own life. I've had to find new grocery stores, new ATM machines, and program new phone numbers in my phone. How is a person to keep track of it all? Which is why things got a bit whack last week.

"Mom," Makenna said, "You need to look up my new school's phone number and call to tell them I have mono." It is always fun when your kids come down with a major illness just at the worst possible time.
"Got it!" I assured her confidently. So I went and googled her new school, programed the new number into my phone, tucked the poor, sweet girl back into bed, and headed out to attack my day.
"Good morning," I said to the school secretary. "My daughter has mono and will be missing some school in the next couple weeks."
"Makenna?" She asked. "That doesn't sound familiar."
"Probably because she has only been a student for a week," I told her.
So I got patched through to the nurse and discussed this medical situation in full detail. Feeling pretty good, I hung up and patted myself on the back for completing this task in such a thorough manner.

Then, a couple hours later I received a call from the school informing me that my daughter was not at school. I told them I had already called her in sick, and the caller hung up in a flustered and confused manner.

Two days later the same thing happened.

"I think Makenna's new school is really unorganized," I said at dinner. "I've called her in sick twice, and both times they didn't get it recorded properly. And they didn't remember me calling about her transcripts or taking care of her fees."
"And I talked to the nurse and she didn't seem to know I had mono," Makenna added.
"Your nurse is a man," I corrected.
"I talked to a woman."
"Maybe there are two," I suggested.
"Or maybe I talked to a sub," Makenna added.
"Well, they should communicate with each other. That seems a little disorganized."
"Not a good first impression," Mike piped up.
"Yeah, and did you know that they are called the Warriors, but when they answer the phone they say Home of the Bears? Whats up with that?"

After supper, Makenna went to look up her grades on the computer and began laughing hysterically. Her grades usually aren't hilarious, so I was confused.

"Mom, is this the phone number you have been calling?" she asked.
"Yes," I answered after checking my contact information.
"That is a school in Connecticut!"
"What?"
Sure enough, it was the wrong school. By a long shot.
"Didn't the different area code make you think this was the wrong school?"
"Well, I noticed it, but we are moving from Des Moines to Norwalk. I thought maybe Norwalk was in a different area code." It makes sense.
"But nothing else in Norwalk is a different area code. Didn't that seem odd?"
"Don't sass me."

So, I called a school in Connecticut several times to discuss my daughter's illness, attendance, and transcripts.

Moving is disorienting.

It is a good excuse, and I'm sticking with it.