Today I was feeling a tad frazzled, especially once Tyson called me (15 minutes before football practice) at work to tell me that he forgot his practice pants & cleats at school & coach was totally gonna kill him. (He ended up having to run around the goal posts 11 times, up & down the length of the field.) Last night he told me that he brought home extra credit so that he could make up for the homework assignments that he hasn't gotten! Uh, hellooooooo...? So we've been busting our chops to make sure that he studies for his spelling (thank goodness his teacher finally posted them online for us, since he'd forgotten the list three weeks in a row & had to take the tests cold-turkey!), practices his bass, does research & writes his state report (due two days from tomorrow!) that is 25 pages long, and reads for a minimum of 1/2 an hour for a book report that's due on the 4th. All this and football practice three times a week for two hours at a time! Yikes! I told him when I picked him up from practice today (BTW, I called his teacher & arranged to pick up the gear, then drove it to practice for him, across town, before coming home to do three transcription tapes before I picked him up at 6:30) that, no, we didn't have time for a movie, or dinner for that matter...Yes, I was joking - being the extremely awesome multi-tasking mother that I strive to be, I prepared a nice meal of salmon, mashed potatoes & green beans while he was in the tub. Just as I was writing this, I realized that I never ate - oops!

Seth didn't call like he was supposed to last night (we've arranged an 8:00 call on Mondays so we can guarantee we'll touch base - he still hasn't gotten a freakin' phone!). We still didn't hear from him again tonight, although I didn't mention that to Tyson, of course. I need to talk to him so we can figure out what the plan is for Thanksgiving, although, knowing him, he'll bail at the last minute, which would be fine with me if it weren't for Tyson's disappointment. More time with the greatest kid in the world for me!

I found myself sending up a little prayer this evening on the way home from practice that was like something out of Fiddler on the Roof: "Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch...for Yentil, make him a scholar, for Mama, make him rich as a king, for me, well, I wouldn't holler if he were as handsome as anything..." Except for mine went, "Ok, Lord, I think I'm ready for my the perfect man for me & Tyson to come along, and could you please make him rich so I don't have to struggle quite so hard anymore?" (I know, not quite as catchy, huh?)Not to indulge completely in self-pity, but I feel like I've done without, been through enough bad relationships & generally gone through enough crap to have built some character. Enough character, already, done with that & ready to reap the rewards now, thank you very much...Ok, somebody call the waaaaaaaambulance....