First Diss by O and the long, slightly related story

On Wednesdays, O is set up to take a kid transportation service from school to the childcare place we use since I'm in class when he gets out of school.  I drop M off at childcare on my way to school, O joins her after he gets out of school and C picks them up when he gets off work.  Understandably there are several people who need to know that O needs to do this since it is not a regular/daily thing:  I remind O before he gets on the bus in the morning, I remind the bus driver that he won't/shouldn't be on the bus after school, I put a note in his folder to remind his teacher, I tell the childcare people when I drop M off to expect him after school and I pay the transportation people for their service.  You'd think that would cover it, right?

Yesterday I forgot to put the note in O's folder.  I decided that I would surprise him by joining him for lunch (M and I do that a few times a month) and, while at school, pass the note along to his teacher.  Problem solved.  We arrived a few minutes late so his class was already seated at their assigned table.  I ran into his teacher in the cafeteria though so I gave her the note and said that this would be the norm for the next 3 months or so.  She appreciated the notification and said she would make a note for herself just in case I forgot to send a note.  Perfect.  I can depend on her even if I mess up.

M and I head over to O at the table and he is enjoying lunch with his friends.  The kids each have assigned seats so if parents and siblings come for lunch then we go out of the cafeteria to eat in the common area where they have tables provided.  O was very excited to see us but made no move to collect his lunch to move to the common area.  I asked if he wanted to come eat with us.  He said, "but Robbie is going to tell us a funny story!  Can you sit here with me?"  I told him that there was no room for us and we'd have to go out into the common area.  He suggested that we could just stand there while he ate with his friends.  I told him that he didn't have to eat lunch with us if he preferred to eat with his friends and he said ok.  So, M and I left.  At first I was ok with it because I had achieved my goal of getting the note to his teacher.  Plus since I hadn't taken the time to pack a lunch, I was not really looking forward to a school cafeteria lunch!  Then, as I was driving away, I found myself getting a little weepy.  I realized that he just chose his friends over me.  It makes me infinitely happy that he has good friends.  I also knew that this day was coming.  But I was still a little sad that it had finally come to pass.

I went on with my day without thinking much more about it.  I got to school and had only a fleeting thought during the class break to check for messages.  However, I got distracted as I chatted with fellow students about a group project that was just assigned so I didn't check messages as I had planned.  Once class was back in session I remembered to check my phone and saw that I had had 5 missed calls.  I walk out of class to check my messages finding 3 of them:  one from the school district transportation service stating that O had mistakenly gotten on the bus and was at the bus stop, please call them; another from a great neighbor who's son also rides the bus, she was trying to help correct the situation; and the third message was a reminder call for my dr. appointment this morning!  I rarely get phone calls and they all seem to happen at the same time!

This had all taken place roughly 45 minutes before.  First, I'm concerned wondering where my son is.  Then I'm pissed because, for crying out loud, what do I have to do to get him where he needs to be when I can't be there??!!  Finally, I'm wondering, who am I supposed to call?  The school district transportation people?  The school?  The neighbor?  The childcare place?  The kid transportation service?  S*#T!!!  AND I'm missing class to deal with this!!!  Grrrrrrrrrrr...

So, I call the neighbor.  Not sure why.  She was the one furthest removed from the situation so I couldn't blow up at her.  I guess that is why I called her first.  Amazingly, she knew what was going on!  The bus driver had taken O back to school and the kid transportation van met her there to pick him up and take him to childcare.  I thanked her profusely and she assured me she had had a similar experience with her son this year.  I calmed down then and called the childcare place to confirm that he was actually there.  He was present and accounted for so I headed back to class.

The exact same thing happened once last spring with the same results.  I guess if it happens again I know it will get taken care of.  What a pain in the butt.  Seriously, I have enough stress without these experiences!