Paying Attention

I am beginning to think that I should, as a general rule, pay more attention to my surroundings.

I think it is fine to get lost coming or going from point A to point B four or five times, but by the sixth time you get lost you should at least be heading to point C. It is probably all the more important to know where you are going if you are leading other people there.

In my defense, I should point out that, yes I have been to this location many times, but always in the back of the parade. In front is someone's mother on a bicycle with a small child in a basket in the front of the bike and a larger child in the seat on the back. Then there are seven or eight kids ages 8 to 11 on bicycles and I am bringing up the rear on a bicycle with four of the kids' large sports bags piled on.

The mom in fronts' job is to lead. My job is to yell as loud as I can, "Stay to the right!" "Car!" "Stop!" "GO!" It is also my job to stop and pick up children, bags, and whatever else falls off the bikes en route. We do this for 20 to 30 minutes. Then we watch the kids practice basketball for 2 to 3 hours and then we reverse the parade and go back home. By this time it is dark. It is truly quite the adrenaline rush.

Two weeks ago, we were again schedulded to be at this venue. This time, I was the "veteran" chaperone and it was my privilege to lead the parade. A "rookie" mom brought up the rear. I am pleased to say that we arrived safely. I led confidently, like the little steam engine, saying to myself, "I think this is the way. I think this is the way."

Time to go home. I offer the leader's job to the rookie mom. She declines. So we start on the route home. At a stop light the mom in back says, "I am so glad you are leading. None of this looks familiar to me." Well, it doesn't look familiar to me either, but I was hoping that was because it was so dark.

My basic theory about being lost is that if I keep going, eventually, I will run into some kind of sign that will tell me where I am. This theory has worked well for me, although sometimes the signs tell me that I am very very far from home.

Knowing that I could not successfully retrace my steps, I continued on towards a large street. Had I turned right on that street, I would have recognized the next street and got home rather quickly. Almost a short cut. But I turned left and ended up at a different basketball venue and I actually remembered how to get home from there. (Okay, all the kids and the rookie mom knew how to get home from there...)

So what brought this up? After school today I took 3 kids and 2 large sports bags to venue A all by myself and we did not get lost! I took 5 kids and 3 large sports bags home from venue A in the dark and we did not get lost. And I only spent the first 5 minutes chanting, "I think this is the way. I think this is the way...."