When we forget

I've had a busy week. I was walking around the kitchen on Tuesday morning, about to make a Julia Child omelette, when the phone rang. I heard Adam say into the receiver, "This morning? Really?" And I instantly knew I'd forgotten something.

Somewhere I should be on a school morning....

Standardized testing! Eek! A whole room full of homeschooling moms and kids were waiting for us; I was already late, I knew. Here I stood in my bathrobe, toast in hand, butter dribbling down my arm. Hurry, kids! Brush your teeth! I apologized to my friend on the phone as I dashed for the bedroom.

(The testing was on the last two days of one month, and the first day of the next month. My brain had somehow translated that to: the last 2 days of one week and the first day of the next week. This is the same brain that cannot remember simple words.)

We quickly shifted our schedule around, did 3 great days of testing, and tomorrow we'll be right back to normal.

But the feeling when you realize you've forgotten something important, that people already are waiting on a Late You, when you have to throw yourself together in 2 minutes instead of 30? The ground shifts slightly and time does that weird warpy thing.

And you find out you're more flexible than you thought you were.

Maybe that's one thing I love about homeschooling. This week, we unexpectedly threw 3 days of out-of-the-house testing into our school, without missing a beat. That's flexibility, perhaps homeschooling's best asset.