Amazingly, we are somehow getting our acts together in the morning so we can all get out of the house on time.
For me, that means I have to be showered, dressed, out the door and on the road by 7:30 a.m. to guarantee that I’ll get to my office in Fells Point by 8:30 (it’s only about 15 miles from Hunt Valley via I-83 south, but it really takes forever most days, am I right, fellow downtown commuters?).
I think this borderline miraculous occurrence is the result of a combination of the kids getting a little older—Lucy can dress herself, for one thing, and Isaac at nearly 1 year old is happy to sit in the high chair and eat some puffs while I run around packing everyone’s bags. I don’t eat my breakfast until I get to work, so that has shaved off time, too. And we’re all getting up earlier, including the dog, who is the laziest of us all.
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A few months ago, I wasn’t able to get out the door until around 8 a.m., and that’s just way too late when everyone else is also trying to get downtown before 9 a.m. and is clogging up the JFX.
There’s always something going on, whether it’s a gaggle of southbound lookeeloos who want to collectively stop around Cold Spring Lane and stare at a fender-bender in the northbound lanes, or egads, the sun is shining and we all need to stare directly into it rather than donning sunglasses or deploying our visors. And heaven help us all if it’s raining.
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Now that you know my fallback gig will be ranting traffic columnist if this whole mommy blogging thing doesn’t work out, I’ll get back to my original point: I’m quite proud of this speedy morning accomplishment, even though I know you are all rolling your eyes at my hubris (or maybe you are just bored) over something so seemingly simple. But it’s a big deal. I’m all about celebrating the little victories these days.
In the life of a working parent, anything that makes you feel like both your pre-mom self—in this case, the 20-something woman for whom timely arrivals at work were a matter of daily routine and not a special occasion—and the successful wrangler of unwieldy dependents goes in the win column.
