Lunch Out Turned into my Biggest Mummy Fail Ever
The day I forgot my child, both of my children in fact, wasn’t just any ordinary day. It was my birthday.
I live in a warm country, and that means that regardless of the fact that my birthday falls in late Autumn, it was a beautiful sunny day and I was in good spirits.
My daily routine is not very exciting. I get up far too early to admit to (I’m not eager, I simply have two kids that don’t appreciate the joy that is staying in bed) and I get the girls ready for school. I then take them to school. I then work and then pick them up. Thrilling.
My job as a writer consists of mainly sitting in front of a laptop and banging away at the keyboard. Sometimes I mix it up a bit and sit on the bed or sofa instead of the living room table, or I take a break from my writing to make a phone call or have a Skype meeting, but I mainly sit. And type. And move nothing but four fingers and two thumbs all day.
So when my birthday came around and two good friends offered to take me out to a local restaurant for lunch I was overjoyed. What a treat! A whole two hours away from work, away from the kids and in the sunshine with some good food and great conversation. I couldn’t wait. So that day I walked down the road to the restaurant and at one o’clock I met my friends. They had ordered a bottle of cold white wine to share, a birthday treat, and as I didn’t have to drive all day (the school was also walking distance from my house) a glass or two of vino wouldn’t hurt. I’m Hispanic, lunch without wine is like bread without butter… crap. So no big deal.
Both of my friends also have kids at my girls’ school so we enjoyed our meal, occasionally we stopped eating and talking to check our watches and make sure we were fine for school pick up. The restaurant was Asian and the food filling and fragrant. In my opinion nothing beats a spicy green Thai curry and coconut rice, and we had plenty of ice cream for dessert too as it seemed too warm and too special a day not to. I was thankful for the walk home to digest my lunch and the half an hour I had left before school pick up time so I could catch up on a few emails and go on Facebook.
And that’s when I did the worst thing I have ever done as a mother. It was at that moment, while sitting on my bed in the sunshine after two glasses of wine and a really filling lunch and scrolling through Gmail, that I committed the very worst Mummy Fail I have ever been guilty of.
I fell asleep!
Now, just so you know, I NEVER sleep in the day. Ever. But for three nights previously my kids had had me up in the night so I was beyond tired… I was ‘don’t blink or you won’t re-open your eyes’ tired. So add that to wine and a hot curry in the middle of the day in the sun, and then a sit down on the sofa and yep. And it was no light nap… I was completely gone.
I forgot about my children!
I went from checking emails and knowing I had 27 minutes until I had to leave the house, to hearing frantic banging on the front door and women shouting out my name. I jumped up and did that thing you do when you stare at the clock and it doesn’t make sense. Because it was way past school pick up time and I had just woken up. What the fuck?! I looked at the door, at my mobile phone that was on silent and had five missed calls, and back at the door. When I opened it three relieved faces stared back at me grinning.
‘Oh we thought something had happened!’ one cried.
‘You seemed fine at lunch and then you weren’t answering your phone!’ cried the other.
‘Did you fall ASLEEP?’ the last one shouted, and then all three burst out laughing.
I didn’t laugh. I had abandoned my children for 30 minutes and no one knew where I was or why. I had done the unimaginable, I had forgotten about my children. And on my birthday!
Well I learnt five lessons from this sorry tale:
1. Don’t stop to have fun on your birthday because you may just forget that you are a Mum and relax too much.
2. Whatever happens, friends always come to the rescue.
3. Spanish teachers think it’s HILARIOUS if you have an accidental siesta and forget your kids (and for the millionth time in my Mummy Life I thank my lucky stars I don’t have to answer to UK and USA teachers who would have reported me to the police).
4. Kids never notice our mistakes.
5. Husbands do. He didn’t laugh when I told him… in fact I have remained on my feet the hour before pick up in fear that I may accidentally fall asleep again and get a name for myself.
So tell me, ladies. Mistake or neglect? Funny or irresponsible?
One of those things, or are you are too damn perfect for that to ever happen to you?
I need to know, really, because two years later and I still feel like the worst Mum in the world…
