Mondays: Manic, Mundane, Mulish

Apologies in advance for the excruciatingly boring nature of today's post. Ever the documentarian, every once in a while, I like to catalog my days, both for my future self as well as for my many suburban friends and family members who are fascinated with our urban ways of life. Today's post has an additional purpose of demonstrating how much of a mule I am at times. It's funny how Amy and I are high-powered economic consultant and psych nurse practitioner by day, but by morning and evening we are bag-carrier, maid, and cook for a couple of kids. Strange how life works sometimes. Anyway, Monday was catalog-worthy, so here goes: 7:00a - Been up since 4. Praying, running outside, lifting at the Y, showering, shaving, dressing. The kids get up, get dressed, and amble downstairs for breakfast. The kitchen is a blur of eating breakfast, fixing lunches, washing dishes, putting away other dishes, and cleaning up. 8:00a - It's a two-block walk to Jada's school, and then one more block to Aaron's. (Pick-up is even more convenient, as Jada ends up at Aaron's school after-school.) I walk five more blocks to the subway stop, and within five minutes am downtown. My office is two blocks more. Morning commute, including two kid drop-offs, totals less than 30 minutes, ten blocks walked, no cost (Transpass = unlimited rides), no gas consumed. Piece of cake, except for the facts that on Monday I am literally a mule, carrying my work bag (which includes my laptop, which I bring home so I can work some on the weekend), my lunch, Aaron's blanket and sheet (which Amy has washed over the weekend), and Jada's ballet bag (so I have it when I pick her up after school). (The kids will often pile on me by asking me to carry their lunch boxes and backpacks, so that they can run free.) 8:30a - I cram some work in before walking a block to a PATCO stop and taking a ten-minute ride to Camden, New Jersey. I emerge a block away from my meeting destination, Cooper Health System. Fare is $2.80 round-trip, or 30 percent less than the toll to cross the Ben Franklin Bridge, to say nothing of gas, parking, and traffic. 5:00p - After I return from my Camden meeting, I have three more afternoon meetings back-to-back-to-back, totaling two hours. Monday is actually a light day for me in the context of this week, as Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will combine for a whopping 18 meetings totaling 18 hours. Since I have nine hours per day of work time during normal business hours, it doesn't leave much time for work, of which I have a lot this week, so it's daunting to think on Monday that I'm just at the beginning. 5:30p - I've cut out early to grab Aaron and Jada, walk them six blocks to Jada's ballet class, walk Aaron four blocks home, eat dinner with Amy and Aaron, clean up while Aaron gets ready for bed, walk four blocks back to Jada's ballet class, walk Jada four blocks home, and feed Jada dinner. Normally, we're home from school by 6ish and done with dinner and baths by 7ish, but Mondays we run a hair longer. 7:30 - Bedtime is winding down, and Amy flees to the basement for some alone time to ride the bike, catch up on TV shows, and sing. I get my stuff ready for tomorrow, put out my exercise and work clothes, and then curl up in bed with a book for about 45 minutes of reading before I crash. It's manic, mundane, and mulish . . . it's Monday.