Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Tapped Out

My level of stress is at the highest it's been for a long time. January has almost put me over the edge with teaching preschool and finding and putting an offer on a new home and now preparing my home to be put on the market.
Yesterday Kennedy started a new dance class at The Little Gym. It started in the late afternoon and Tristan woke up just in time for me to nurse him before we left. I actually had to wake up Kennedy from her nap. I grabbed her ballet and tap shoes, still in their box, and shoved them in a plastic bag. We made it just in time and all the little girls had their pink ballet shoes on so I put Kennedy's ballet shoes on. Just as I tied the last bow the teacher announced that they were going to tap first. I hurriedly changed her shoes and sent her off with the other girls. This is her first class without Mom so we were both a little nervous.
The class was so cute and Kennedy was happy learning some new steps. I watched her through the window and tried to keep Tristan entertained at the same time. About 15 minutes into the class they changed into their ballet shoes. The teacher had written Kennedy's name on her ballet shoes as they were headed into class. Another 15 minutes of dance and they were ready to head into the gym.
The next little bit is a blur and I wish I would have paid more attention but I went in to the room to get Kennedy's tap shoes and I saw another mom take the last pair of 8-1/2-size shoes, which I thought were Kennedy's. Silly me for not thinking to write her name in her shoes but they were brand new with the sticker still inside. I looked around and did not see another pair. The dark cloud started forming above my head. I just knew this mother had taken my daughter's shoes but I didn't want to accuse her of anything. After all, she had two daughters in the class and she had with her a newborn baby. There must be some mistake on her part.
I politely asked her to check her shoes. I explained that my daughter had a brand new pair of tap shoes from Payless and the sticker was still inside the shoe. All the response I got was a terse "So did mine!"
The dark cloud kept getting bigger. I looked at all the shoes that were left. They were either too big to belong to someone in this class or too little. I was left with a used size 8. I kept brewing over this situation the whole time and didn't get to enjoy watching Kennedy in her gym class. I kept praying in my heart that I would be able to do the right thing. Kennedy is signed up for a 20-week course and I would have to sit in the waiting room with this mother for 19 more weeks. I didn't want there to be any bad feelings between us.
After class I told Teacher Kim that I couldn't find Kennedy's shoes. The other mother admitted that we both had size 8 1/2 taps and that neither of us had written our daughter's names in them. Kim asked all the parents to re-check their bags and make sure they had the right shoes. I was still left with a battered pair of size 8s. Frustrated and about to cry I just sat down. At this point I think Kim could feel my frustration. She then offered to buy "my" size 8s and then I could go purchase Kennedy another pair of 8 1/2 shoes. So Little Gym now has an extra pair of size 8 tap shoes.
I didn't want to leave without smoothing things over with the other mom so asked her what her name was and told her mine and apologized. I would like to know where those 8 1/2s are right now!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How frustrating. I remember being on the verge of tears a lot more often when my kids were little. Stress and fatigue combined, I think. Sounds like you need a vacation. Come see us!

Mary said...

What a terrible thing to happen. I hope whoever took the shoes needed them more than you. Oh well, they are just shoes. I love you.

Lucy said...

Twenty weeks?!!! Man, you are some kind of mother. I'm into my fifth and final week of swimming lessons and I'm going to do cartwheels when it's over.

I'd love to see little miss happy feet in action. Sorry you are under so much stress.