Sitting here in car line at the end of the first week of school, it occurs to me that I have spent over 17 hours (give or take a few minutes) total in my car since Monday. Everyone I have talked to has some variation of this reaction:

“2 hours in the car just to pick up your kids? I would never.”

“Just put them on the bus.”

“I’m so not ready for that!”

“Bless your heart.”

I’m not saying I don’t agree with them. It’s also the hottest time of the year and I’ve learned to strategically park in the shade. Even when it means I am an uncomfortable distance from the person in front of me.

I guess the most perplexing thing is how quickly I accepted this part of motherhood. I’m not comfortable with my kids riding the bus and we live way too far to walk so by default, it’s the car line for them. It was a decision I made therefore I had to accept the terms of car line.

It will get better within the next couple of weeks. Already it is immensely better than that first day. That was actual hell, I do believe. The worst part of it all is the amount of gas I have already gone through. Y’all, it’s brutal watching that tank creep lower every day. Especially since during summer I could get away with filling up once every 2 weeks (sometimes a few days past that). Just another term I am forced, *ahem*, choosing to accept I suppose.

It really hasn’t been too bad. We’ve been doing the car line thing in some form or fashion for the last 6 years so there has been some time to adjust. The best thing to do is bring a book, listen to a podcast or turn up the music. Also, bring snacks and drinks for both you and the kiddos. Just trust me. I guess you could scroll your phone too. My hooks up to my car via Bluetooth and there is a terrible lag between sound & video, so I don’t typically watch anything. I do write a little, though. You can make your time spent in car line as productive or as relaxing as you’d like. Whatever keeps you sane 😉

As I’m sitting here, I find myself wondering what else I could be doing in this approximate time span… Here is what I’ve come up with so far:

• Paint my “in desperate need of TLC” kitchen cabinets.
• Watch the paint dry on said kitchen cabinets.
• Perform gallbladder removal surgery. (Okay, so I could run the c-arm for the surgery)
• Cook an entire dinner (WITH kid interruptions).
• Watch between 6-8 episodes of Bluey.
• Drive to the zoo in the next state.
• Walk around Target and redesign my home based on Joanna’s new fall line.
• Learn how to knit.
• Bake a loaf of sourdough bread.
• Play one round of Uno or CandyLand with the toddler. It seriously takes soooo long. But super fun!
• Write a blog post. Literally what I’m doing now ha-ha.
• Read through my TBR book list. It’s a long list.
• Fold the laundry piled up in the basket on my floor.
• Eat only the peanut butter out of the Reese’s cups leaving the chocolate ring intact. Then eat the chocolate rings. A weird and somewhat useless talent.
• Perform Taylor Swift’s Speak Now album for the other parents in car line. I won’t. But it would be fun.

Okay, so the list is mostly outlandish but it passed the time. now to pick up these kids and head home to enjoy the 20 minutes before bedtime. Kidding. Sort of 😉