A few things this morning:

1. I’ve been up since 5:30 am to make a bag lunch and bring Chloe (Redwood Middle School Marching Band participant) to her middle school before all 300 band members depart for Cupertino (next town over) for the “Cupertino Tournament of Bands.”

2. After dropping Chloe off at school, I drove slowly (trying to remain unobserved so I wouldn’t worry any of the neighbors at the dark, early hour) as I approached the neighborhood area where all the “middle school student walkers” gather to await their car pick-ups after dismissal. Yesterday, Chloe forgot her lunchbox (the overpriced, fantastically zippered food box with the paisley pattern that matches her backpack) by the roadside. The post school traffic was so heavy and I had so many places to go and kids to pick-up when we realized it, that we didn’t immediately turn back and retrieve the lunchbox. At home, when I suggested that Chloe walk back to the after-school waiting spot to find her treasured lunchbox, there was so much whining and huffing that I quickly dropped the cause. So, I went back, myself, at 6:05 am this morning to secure the lunchbox, which sat, alone, on the stonewall by the secret pathway to and from school. Wet with dew, the lunchbox was heavy. I placed it on the passenger seat and shut the car door quietly.

3. I went back to bed at 6:30 am, after first putting the load of laundry that I had forgotten to transfer last night, at midnight, into the washing machine.  (This load contained an important pair of black socks, a crucial element to Max’s marching band uniform. A marching band can be docked points for an error in  the most minute of details, such as socks. These specific socks needed to be dried and ready to don within the hour.) The bed, when I finally returned to it, was warm. Scott, the heat box, welcomed me with open arms but only after scolding me for all the noise I had caused, thus far, throughout his precious Saturday morning sleep-in. I slept until 7:40 am when it was time to repeat the process with Max, a high school competitor in the “Cupertino Tournament of Bands.”  The black socks looked good.

4. As Max and I walked toward the car at 8:00 am, we noticed a huge dead deer lying on the ground beneath our mailbox, by the left-side edge of our driveway. I rushed back to our bedroom to alert Scott. “Whatever’s to be done, can we do it before Charlie wakes up? He’ll have a cow if he sees a dead deer in the driveway!” Scott agreed and immediately reached for the phone to call the authorities.

5. Now, as we prepare over the next hour to get ourselves readied and to the parade route in time to hear our oldest two children perform in the competition (with the youngest two in tow) we have been interrupted numerous times by various neighbors informing us of the deer situation. “Yes. Thank you. We’re on it,” we say, before shutting the front door and rushing back to apply product to the hair, slather sunscreen on the faces and arms and double tie the laces of our sneakers.

6. A quick scan of the NY Times reveals that Mitt Romney is closing in on President Obama in various ratings polls. Scott breaks the news to me while I apply my mascara. (Yes, I need to wear mascara to the parade.) Ohio…..oh, people of Ohio…

7. On the bright side, my dear, deer-solving husband, went out and got me a fresh Starbuck’s coffee, half decaf, with Half and Half to top it off, just the way I like it.

It’s a warmish, sunny morning…a slight breeze…some fall color in the trees.  A perfect day for a parade!