Last week, I started my new job. Because of this, I had to completely rearrange my daily schedule. Have you ever had the experience of suddenly forgetting how to do something you've done routinely - even subconciously - for years and years? That happened to me. My son's violin lesson holds at 4:15pm every Wednesday, and yet, I mistakenly thought that I needed to be there at 5:15pm. When I got my son, he asked "Why are you so late?" It still didn't occurred to me that I messed up. But when I ran into unusual traffic, it started to dawn on me - normally this trip isn't so bad.
I told Marty that daddy might have messed up, and that we might miss the lesson, and he started protesting, "No, I want to go to violin class!" I said "sorry", repeatedly during the unusually long drive.
When we finally got to the violin lesson, his teacher was teaching another student and she said that she couldn't stay late. I said "That's okay. It was my fault. But can he stay and watch?" So Marty stayed and watched her teach. After the lesson was over, the teacher got ready to go, and Marty began to cry, realizing that he wouldn't get a lesson. I went over to give him a hug.
I felt bittersweet. On the one hand, I felt very bad for screwing up. But on the other hand, I felt very gratified that Marty loves his violin lessons this much. This is a sign that we are on the right path in educating him, and for me, it is a huge success.