Kill Me Now!

Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water...

Can you guess what I discovered when I logged in to my email account this morning? Yes, a few messages telling me that I'd won some lottery in Tanzania...and if I'd just send my social security number, blood type and first born, they'd immediately issue a "bank cheque" for a zillion dollars. DELETE.

Between messages about lottery wind-falls and "last call sales," this one caught my eye --

SUBJECT: Welcome to our 16th Street J Preschool Family!

BODY: Hello Courtney and Noah,

It is my pleasure to offer Lily a spot in the 16th Street J Preschool for the 2008–2009 school year.

I will be mailing you a packet with full information on our registration process and the forms that we’ll need you to fill out. Please look for the envelope in the mail in the coming week. It should answer many of the questions that I know you may have....

QUESTIONS!?! Yes, I have a few. Like who up there has it in for me? Why am I being driven to the edge? Why now? Why me?

As if the whole School for Friends drama didn't age me enough, now Lily has been offered a coveted spot at the DC JCC's preschool. Luckily I was spared any additional hair pulling this morning because of the whole contract/school year tuition clause discovery we made last week. I did have a brief moment when my stomach went up in to my throat -- just like it does when you head over the peak of a hill on a roller coaster -- but I quickly shot down that roller coaster of emotions and wrote back, declining the spot (very politely and diplomatically, as I did with School for Friends, b/c lord only knows where we'll want to send Anna in 2 years! I need to be friends with all these preschool admissions folks!!).

And then I went and made myself a cup of Irish Creme-flavored coffee in my office kitchen. Even though it wasn't the real thing, I needed to at least feel like I was having a drink.