So Friday…

We saw it on the calendar and realized it would be a logistical nightmare.

Ellen did ballet camp all week and had a recital mid-morning. We had to have her at camp by 9 am sharp. But before that, we discovered that Adam would need another trip to the pediatrician to check out his nasty cough. So we threw out our carefully crafted plan from the night before and Andrew jumped in the car to speed Ellen to church on time and Adam to the doctor.

We scored a win when Andrew arrived at camp precisely 15 minutes before 9 am. I scored a fail because I forgot to send her with her ballet shoes.

Once Ellen was safely delivered, Andrew took Adam on to the doctor while I sent the baby-sitter pleading texts to stop by Starbucks on her way to the house. Horrors, we were out of coffee. Even worse, I’d checked my email only to discover I was responsible for bringing some sort of finger food to Ellen’s recital.

It’s a good thing my morning protein bar was loaded with chocolate.

Once the baby-sitter arrived (Willa was potty training so she needed to stay close to a bathroom) and Finn was topped off, the twins and I went running, literally, through the grocery store in search of donut holes (at one end of the store) and baby formula (at the other end, as you would expect).

We paid and ran back to the van through the parking lot dropping receipts, bags, and loose change behind us.

As we went careening down the road to find Ellen, I took a deep breath.

I had a sudden desire to just raise both arms overhead and let the roller coaster scream on. I kept my hands at ten and two, I swear. But I felt that heady exhilaration you feel when you know you’re just barely in control and there’s nothing but a single bar keeping you from hurling into outer space.

Andrew called me to report that Adam would need a chest x-ray but the doctor said it was probably just asthma, as we suspected. They went in search of coffee and breakfast before heading to the recital to meet us. Once Andrew and I had exchanged all of the practicalities and had revamped our plan B to make it a plan B.2, we took a breath and started to giggle.

“Are you okay?”

“Yup, I’m okay.”

“I wouldn’t do this with anybody but you.”

“Exactly.”

It was nice to know he was in the seat beside me for this crazy ride. (Keep in mind, while he was doing all his chauffering, he was taking work calls and holding down a job.)

We arrived at the ballet camp in time for me to deliver Ellen’s shoes and then slather my much-neglected toes with nail polish before the recital.

And then, oh, my baby girl. She just glowed with joy and pride.

She didn’t care in the slightest if she was dancing the right move or how well she did. Once she realized she was the center of attention, she determined to revel in it all she could. I sat in the front row, faithfully videoing for the grandparents, and tried not to look weepy.

We all tossed back a few donut holes and lemonade and sprinted for our cars. Andrew went off in search of prescriptions for Adam and I went to hunt down my baby at home for a feeding.

Then everybody swapped places, the babysitter put a sandwich in Adam’s hand, a brownie in mine, and off Adam and I went to the children’s hospital for a chest x-ray.

When we walked out of the x-ray room, I saw the thunderclouds billowing and realized we had to make a run for it. We sprinted through the deluge to the car, where I sat in traffic and storms for half an hour.

As I parked my “roller coaster” in the driveway, the clock on the dashboard read 1 pm.

Seemed impossible we’d done all that racing around in such a short amount of time. But there it was. The two hour nap I took later said I was tired, but it felt… it felt good. It was good stuff. Life stuff. Ordinary. Out of the ordinary. And all the stuff in between.

With a slice of insanity for good measure.

This week looks to be like a repeat of last week: Crazy topped with nuts. I’ve got my Plan A all typed up, double spaced, and printed.

It’ll be out the window by 9 am tomorrow, I guarantee it.

But I’m strapped down. And  I can hear the click, click, click as the coaster climbs that first big hill. My heart races just a little with anticipation. And I feel my arms start to rise…