No, seriously, I am. I'm totally and utterly overwhelmed. Teaching 4 classes while being a full-time stay at home mom may have been a mistake. I know people are kidding [sic this is supposed to say "think I am kidding" but I left it, because it's a nice little indication of how broken my brain is right now] when I say that Tim's discovered me staring at a wall, but I'm not. By about 10 pm I have approximately 1.5 brain cells to rub together. Occasionally synapses fire and lead me to bed, but often it's Tim leaning in saying "Honey. Bedtime. Let's go." Poor guy.
But that's not why I'm writing today. Oh no. Today I'm writing to let you know that someone at the school has replaced our "make stale air smell not so stale" air freshener thingies with something that smells like fabric softener.
Which seems like a good idea, right?
It's a HORRIBLE idea. Imagine it, if you will: You're exhausted. You're running to class in some head-to-toe black number (with 3 different kinds of black, but I digress), your day's been off kilter since you spent an extra 20 minutes washing strawberry jelly off your backside from sitting in your son's extra special jelly pile he left on his chair. Your back hurts, your bag's heavy, and you think maybe you might have written a lesson plan for today, but who really knows. You are red-lining, for sure. And then you suddenly walk through the sweet breezy smell of Downy.
A deep breath. Your blood pressure goes down. Suddenly you're puppies and rainbows and ready to find a quiet corner to curl up in a big soft fluffy blanket or warm towel fresh from the dryer. You may have seen a sweet butterfly hovering around you. Eyes closed, you are in a familiar-scented, manufactured heaven.
Oh, except that you're NOT. You're at school. And everything that was stressful 10 minutes ago suddenly seems MORE SO now, because the hallway reminded you of heaping mounds of fresh-from-the-dryer-laundry-when-you-were-six.
Thanks, powers-that-be. Thanks.
I can almost smell it myself.
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