Sometimes I just don't think things through. Today was one of those times. Brittany's middle school's winter concert was today and I was by myself with all the girls as my husband was gone for the day. However, before the concert, I had the audacity to try to go to the dog's first group lesson on the intermediate training level. Yes, with all four girls in tow! I can hear you now..."What were you thinking??!!!!" Perhaps I should've seen this coming but I digress.
LT, our lab mix, didn't do well with all the distractions at Petsmart on an especially busy Saturday. The girls wondered the store while I was trying, unsuccessfully, to get him to heal only to get wrapped up in the lease as he would try to greet every dog and person we walked by. My girls came back all excited saying that the humane society was there with a lot of adorable small dogs and that Katherine really wanted a chihuahua now. Yeah right! Lt would give it a heart attack before we even left the store not to mention I don't want another dog or other living being to take care of right now, thank you very much.
Once out of that mad house, I had to race home to get Brittany's viola, which she had forgotten and also to drop off Lt before driving to the middle school for the concert. On the way there, I noticed I had one mile until my tank of gas was empty so I thanked God that I made it to the gas station.
At any rate, we finally made it to the concert and to my horror, I discover that it is in the gym and there isn't a seat to be seen anywhere and that the chorus will be performing first. There was a ton of noise and bodies milling about everywhere. A miracle occurs and we managed to find a bench with enough room for the four of us right in front of the orchestra, which was good because I was then able to see Brittany come in looking like she didn't know where to sit or what to do. Turns out she had forgotten her music. Forgetting things has been her thing lately. I was able to go and help her sort it out before the chorus started singing. When I came back to the other girls, I found to my dismay that Mary was terrorizing Janet and Katherine. I ended up sitting between them as the chorus sang. Unfortunately, Mary just continued to escalate and Katherine just couldn't sit still and be quiet so by the time it was the orchestra's turn to play, Katherine was yelling that she needed to go potty over and over and Mary was trying to reach over me to pinch and flick Janet.
I did the only thing I could do. I got up and took all three of them out. I felt horrible since it meant that I was missing Brittany playing. I raced Katherine to the bathroom and got back in time to hear the end of the second song. I left the three girls in the big empty room next to the gym so I could at least hear the last song. Bad decision. As soon as I went back in to check on them a couple minutes later, Mary had Janet pinned to the ground and Katherine was wailing hysterically. I rescued Janet and went to find Brittany so we could go home.
I couldn't find her so I just stood in the middle of milling crowd waiting for her to come back. That was when I realized that Janet had left my side again. I went again to check on Mary and found that she had Janet was pinned AGAIN! This time, I took both Katherine and Jess with me and Mary followed bound and determined to get at Janet every chance she got. But by then I had my hands full with Katherine who had then decided that she wanted to run into the crowd and find Brittany and was whining and wailing for me to let her go. So I was holding onto Katherine and blocking Mary from Janet with my body all the while people around me cast me pitying glances every now and then.
Luckily Katherine is still little enough that I can still "fireman" carry her because that is what I needed to do by the time Brittany got back to us. She had kicked off her shoes and had been rolling on the floor.
To say the least, I am beat today. The worst part is that the girls have been begging to go to the bookstore ever since then but I have absolutely no desire to step out in public with them for a while. At least not without a lot of backup and a big sign that says "They have autism. Help or go away!"
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