My sister, my friend

My sister is my very best friend. Oh, sure, I have lots of other friends who are incredibly dear to me and without their presence in my life, I would be adrift. But, my sister, makes me whole. As much as it confounds my poor hubby, I talk to my sister on the phone easily once or twice a day.......sometimes with back to back conversations. When the planets are not aligned and I miss a day of talking to her, it's like we haven't spoken in weeks. We have children who are the same age, we both face the same challenges of motherhood, she honestly loves my children, she actually thinks that at times I am a decent Mom, and she empowers me daily to be a better Mom, a better woman, a better person. She is always the voice of reason. I have called her with tears of joy and with tears of frustration, and she has never let me down. Ok, once in a while I can't find her via her many different phones, and I get a little miffed............afterall, when I need her, nobody else will do! (wow, that almost sounds like a stalker). Recently, she brought my Mom down for an afternoon and the three of us went shopping and had lunch and it was an amazingly fun time. (see, those friends of mine that ground me took my kids so I could spend this time with my Mom and sister) It makes me wish that we lived closer............although, if we did, I would never get anything done! So, for the sake of friendship, sisterhood, and family, I am committed to keep up with my blogging this year...............I honestly think she may come down to my home (about 100 miles away) and manipulate my fingers on the keyboard if I don't start blogging more. Hey, that actually might be a good way of having her visit me...........Here's a shout out to my sister, my best friend. NOW...........stop bugging me to blog!! LOL (stay tuned for more sister pressured blogs to come)

PTO

I realize that my blog is titled Inside the Life of a PTO MOM, and yet, I haven't once blogged about PTO. I am really struggling with whether I should stay involved with the PTO next year. I am, in the 4th year on the Board, 2 as Volunteer Chair, and 2 as Vice President. I feel that everyone at the school is looking to me to be the President next year. The problem is that I am burned out, sorta.........I have all of the intellectual converations in my head weighing the pros and cons of staying on the board. On the con side, it seems like we have less and less parental involvement each year. We have 8 position on our board, and within the first 9 weeks, one of the Moms stepped down, leaving only 7. The week of one of our biggest fund raisers, our Treasurer quit, leaving us to scamble to make sure we could pay all of our entertainers. The Monday after our Friday big event, our Special Events person left. So, half way through the year, there are only 4 of us working hard to make sure everything doesn't fall apart. Of the four of us, one is 6 weeks away from having her 4th baby.......although, she is one of the hardest working members, and I actually do not imagine that changing, even with a new baby to care for.........she is simply amazing. On top of all of the stress of juggling many different positions, and just letting some things go, many of the parents are unforgiving and incompassionate about things. I can't tell you how many e mails the President and I get that are just not nice. Who wants to sign up for that? I could easily just show up at events, do the bare minimum, and leave......well, ok, maybe I couldn't do that afterall..............which leads me to the pros of being on the Board. I enjoy being "In the know" at the school. I enjoy having an inside track on information. I enjoy being a part of a group. I enjoy being validated. I enjoy being "in the loop". I am not sure that I can NOT be a part of this. The other part of the problem is that not many people from the current board are coming back to next year's board. Can I really abandon everything that I have worked so hard on for the past 4 years to a group of new parents, some who may be brand new to the school and so don't know how things are done? I am an out of the box thinker, and so am not opposed to new ideas and new ways of doing things...........and I am sure that no matter what, the school will continue, even if I am not in any position of authority. I am just very conflicted as to what I should do. My hubby would love for me to not be on the board as he thinks that then I cam stay at home all day and clean the house. I'm not sure that is the life I signed up for though. What's a PTO, Stay at Home, Mom to do???

My Post Office Story

Ok, so I called my sister with this story and she said that it was "blog-worthy" so here goes.......I was at the post office mailing a Chinese New Year outift to my sister for her youngest daughter. I was at the counter and there were 4 people waiting in line: a stressed out looking lady, a construction worker, and a man in a business suit. The post office lady was helping me, so my back was turned to the people waiting. Now, you know how a post office is, it is a quasi library. Everyone is quiet, you keep a respectful distance between you and the people around you, as if what they are mailing is highly personal information. So, you can imagine the shock and surprise when the stressed out lady all of a sudden, in a very loud and hostile tone, said, "you have no idea what it's like to walk in my shoes. Nobody can judge me" I can tell you without any exaggeration, that the 7 of us all turned in unison to look for the gun we were sure she had in her hand. We were in the middle of a crazy gun weilding lady situation. We were all looking for the fastest escape route, the best place to duck behind cover, and quickest way out. The only one who was unaware of what was going on was the crazy, stressed out lady, who was so busy talking on her blue tooth that she has no idea the panic she had just caused. There was a large collective sigh amongst the rest of us when we all realized at the same time that there was no gun and she was indeed talking to someone on the phone. We all kind of made eye contact with each other and smiled and congratulated ourselves that we had just survived this ordeal. she continued with her many sided conversation and mailed whatever she was mailing, never aware of the rest of us. Too bad she won't have a story to blog about!