P.S. I Love You

When you've got a teenager who sleeps past noon at every opportunity it is likely you will often be leaving the house before he is even conscious. The typical scenario is as follows: Just when you are ready to walk out the door you remember that the least you can do to parent your sleeping beauty is to leave a note with information about your general whereabouts so that if you don't turn up within the 72 hours it takes for him to run out of milk and notice you are gone, he will know approximately where to search for you so that he can ask you when you plan to resupply the frig.




However, by the time you have this realization that a note would be a nice mommy courtesy (and in fact the same courtesy you request he show you) your hands are full of purse, keys, coffee cup, reusable grocery bags, sunglasses, coupons, gloves, etc. Setting all that down to find pen and paper is a major setback to your exit strategy.




So, one day when you are in bathroom-cleaning-avoidance-mode you fool around with the Hallmark software that you usually forget you have and create a fetching little flipbook of reusable notes that can be set in place with a single free finger as you juggle all your stuff, slip into your shoes, and open the door with your elbow to begin the day's activities.




When you return home you ask the teen how he likes the wonderful, new, colorful, clever, highly efficient note-leaving-system. When he simultaneously shrugs, rolls his eyes, and mumbles incoherently you realize 1) he hasn't even noticed you were ever gone and 2) he never saw the note as he spread the comics page over it while eating his Captain Crunch for lunch at 1:00 p.m.




Well, it's still the right thing to do.