The Wonderful World of Pippi

Pippi on her way to preschool this morning. She loves to ride Odo whose "real" name is Buddy according to Pip. Odo was made by my mom for my sister Miranda when she was about Pip's age. I told Pip to make Odo gallop or we'd be late for school. She said, "I tired mom. That why him not gallop." She also said, "Odo a lovely horse, isn't him mom?" As you can probably understand, my little Pip is the dearest little sunshine and so precious I hate to leave her at preschool and miss any of her preciousness.

Oh, what a day yesterday was...what a day. The morning greeted me with the Fernando school bus fiasco,the afternoon with the twins deciding to pick nearly every leaf off of my umbrella tree to decorate their sofa fort (I am praying the tree pulls though despite its nakedness) and then the evening found me shaking uncontrollably in an adrenalin panic. The story begins with Mistaya's very busy evening: after school she went to a social justice meeting at a friends house. Peter picked her up on the way home from work and she had supper with us and announced she had to be at the Rec Centre by 7 for a meeting to train to be a Santa's Elf volunteer for a Kid's Christmas craft event happening at the Rec Centre on Sunday. The entire family drove her down, and we planned to have a nice DQ treat while she was at the meeting and then go back and pick her up with a sundae to-go for her. All went well, except she insisted I take her coat with me and bring it when I picked her up. However when it was time to pick her up and take her home, Peter went in to retrieve her. She and he came out saying she was staying an extra hour to try out the gym at the Rec Centre with a few friends, her friend's mom would pick them up and drive her home at 8:45 (and she'd need $3 for the gym). I felt confused but since Peter seemed to have already said yes, I agreed and gave her $3. We left. I felt uneasy, she didn't have a coat, she was wearing only short sleeves and it is winter! Also, how did I know her friend's mom had agreed to all this? I waited at home until 9:15--no Mistaya. How had I been pressured into agreeing to this? I didn't even know for sure who exactly the three friends (she decided to stay with) were for sure & Mist had no winter coat! I called one of Mist's friends to get other friends' phone numbers. Then I called one of her girl friends mothers who was supposed to be at the gym with Mist. The mom said no, her daughter wasn't home yet either and that she was worried. That did it. My worries catapulted into adrenalin overdrive. I tried calling the mom's number who was supposed to pick them up--no answer. I got in the van to drive to the Rec Centre myself--telling Peter to call my cell if she came home. I drove down the street and realized I was shaking so badly that I was going to throw-up. I drove to Miranda's and asked if either she or John could drive down with me as I felt too sick to drive. Poor M and J were in their jammies but Miranda joined me and drove me down to the Centre. I got their at about 9:40 PM. The security guard said they were closed. I asked him about the girls--had he seen three little 13 year old girls? Yes, he had. Another worker joined us to say they were hanging around waiting for a ride that never came so one had asked to use the phone to call her mom. Then the 3 girls reportedly left through the front doors at about 9:30.  We raced home, I yelled into our house, "Is Mistaya home yet?" Peter said no, but she'd called from a gas station and was on her way with her friend's mom--the mom had arrived late to pick them up. I waited in the drive way with Miranda. She finally arrived home at 10 PM. I am still a mess because of this. I have decided no school night activities. And no more running all over the city with her girl friends--acting 16--when she's only just turned 13! I've decided if they want to go to the mall etc. I want an adult with them--at least in the mall having coffee while the girls do their own thing.
That is my adrenalin rant. Even writing this, my adrenalin shakes have returned. It's just me--my genetics are weird, whenever I'm super stressed or sick I shake.