Leslie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Leslie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day

When I was young, there was one book that I adored more than most – Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst.  Alexander wakes up with gum in his hair and trips on his skateboard.  Later in the book the shoe store doesn’t have the “cool shoes” in his size so he gets plain ones. The story goes on with a bunch of small things adding up to cause Alexander to want to move to Australia.

Today, I feel like moving to Australia. I feel like Alexander does. I just want to up and move away where I can’t be bothered. 

So what happened? Well twice in the past week I have had two different family members visit from out-of-state and tell me that they plan on visiting on said day.  So I frantically clean my house and try to maintain a clean house with three kids under the age of 6, while running a magazine, planning two birthday parties, and starting a new organization. You know because I have nothing to do. (Do not get me wrong, I am not complaining about my busy schedule. I love my busy schedule. I thrive when busy but if I rearrange my schedule for you – I expect you to be there.)

You see, most of the world sees me as a writer, a public speaker and the Editor of a magazine – but my family sees me as “Just Leslie.”  This does not offend me. It just is. In fact it keeps me in check.  It reminds me of how far I have come and how hard I have worked.

Anyway, I love visits. I love family and friends. However, many do not seem to be aware of the monkey wrench that they throw into our lives when they want to “just drop in.”  When I was single this was great. I just went with the flow of whatever life brought me.  This is not the case anymore.  My hubby and my kids thrive on structure and go into panic mode when plans change. 

So when someone tells me, “Hey, I’m in state and want to stop by tomorrow after lunch.”  I expect them to be here sometime between noon and 5 pm.  However, twice I have been told that they are going to “swing by” for a visit and twice these two different people didn’t show at all.  To me this is just downright rude.  In todays’ day and age where almost everyone has a phone with a clock on it attached to them, there is no reason why you can’t call and cancel and no reason why you can’t keep track of the time. 

The other aggravating factor for me is that they let my kids down. If I start frantically cleaning, they know someone is coming over. There is no hiding it. They are young but clever. So even if I try to hide that so-and-so is going to be visiting it eventually comes out.  So twice I have had to deal with my kids crying because we stayed home all day long and they didn’t show.

Then – “Can I stop by another time?” Well, what is another time?  Believe it or not I don’t sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for people to just “stop by.” 

It drives me insane when people only think of themselves. In this case, in both cases, they were working their visit around what worked for them and their vacationing activities.  Really?!! I don’t have three young kids to worry about, which means nap times and bus schedules to take into consideration.  Oh and there is the whole autism factor. My five year old has Asperger’s and my baby boy is not diagnosed with anything yet but I have my concerns.  They depend on the plan for the day and when the plan doesn’t go accordingly then we have major meltdowns.  My middle child is an NT and is overtly emotional.  So she cries from missing the person and the disappointment of waiting all day to give them the picture she drew only to find out they aren’t coming.  Me, well, I am offended that I don’t rank high enough on their Richter scale for them to keep their plans with me and pissed off that they made my kids cry.

This is why, after dealing with the kids crying, I agree with Alexander and think I should just move to Australia.