It had been one of those mornings. Aviva had started off behind because she’d fallen asleep too early the night before and hadn’t prepared the kids’ lunches. It hadn’t helped when Kayla stalked into the kitchen and asked for a smoothie for breakfast. And then Chaim wanted an omelet. And Tzippi needed $50 for a class trip — and a signed note because she’d lost the permission slip.
Then Chaim remembered that he hadn’t done his math homework and Shira came downstairs crying because she had no clean uniform shirts (“Tzippi keeps stealing mine just because we’re the same size!”). And Chavi of course was still glowering at her from yesterday when she’d come home from school in a huff and slammed a paper down on the table: her Navi report with a big red D written on top of it.
If someone gave marks for mothering she was sure her grade wouldn’t be any better than Chavi’s.
Feeling like a total failure Aviva slipped out of the bedlam of her house leaving Zevi to do carpools and lift everyone’s mood (how could he bounce in from shul with a perky “Great morning chevreh!” with all the shouting and crying going on?). But not before she heard his cheery “See you soon!” wafting out the door along with her.
