• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Drops of Awesome

Personal Blog of Author Kathryn Thompson

  • Home
  • About
  • Author Page
  • Events
  • Merch
  • Contact

Red Wagons and Knuckerholes

September 16, 2015 by Kathryn

I’d been planning all my life for the first day of school, or at least all month. I often say, “DOWN WITH PERFECTIONISM!” But then there’s this small part of me that really really wants to just be perfect. Because that would make life easier and then I wouldn’t have to be obsessed with perfection anymore because I would have already achieved it. It’s like when you can’t stop playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii until you beat the game and then you never think about it again. That’s how I see my life being when I achieve perfection, total Zen.

wagon

We had planned the heck out of the first day of school, family meetings, calendar items, to-do lists, backpacks packed and clothes laid out two days early.

But when the day actually came, we ended up forgetting things, losing lunch boxes, running over little red wagons with the van, showing up late to kindergarten assessments because we were so busy trying to do all the morning routines perfectly, praying that the kindergarten teachers were not assessing personal hygiene because we forgot to brush our new kindie’s hair.

When the day ended, I popped on Facebook and saw all my friends post pictures of their kids on the first day. And they weren’t just pictures. They were pictures with props.

Framed art that said what grade they were starting.

Actual, flippin’ ART. In frames. That said what grade they were starting.

Why is this a thing? Why?

Anyway. I took a picture of the wagon I ran over. So that’s something. And I learned a new fake swear, thanks to our friends at Dragon Tales. So that’s something else.

When I signed out of the school, Wanda discovered this book in a basket in the office.

knuckerhole

She asked me to read it. I really really needed to find out what a knuckerhole was so I sat down and read it to her.

It turns out that a knuckerhole is a magical tube you can jump though that basically takes you to nowheresville where you sit and think about how you should have done a better job cleaning your bedroom until a dragon saves you and takes you to the fireworks show.

I prefer to think of it as an awesome new slang term for pretty much whatever.

Ex. Why did Zack take such a cheap shot and punch Wheezy in the knuckerhole?

Or

Shut your knuckerhole!

Maybe

Why in the knuckerhole did someone put the red wagon behind my car wheel?

Or

Stop being such a knuckerhole and load your lunch dishes in the dishwasher.

So, we decided to send that day down the knuckerhole and started over. And the school year is actually off to a pretty decent start at this point. I still haven’t taken first day of school pictures for all three kids because I’m not done crocheting doilies that say which grades each of them are starting. But I am at peace with that.

Filed Under: Drops of Awesome, Education, Family Time, Parenting, Save Me From Myself

Previous Post: « How Does She – Stay Sane
Next Post: The Wait is Over Little Afghan Girl »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. mo says

    September 16, 2015 at 12:15 pm

    Stealing, um, borrowing this word and thank you for being human.

    • Kathryn says

      September 16, 2015 at 2:14 pm

      Being a human is one of my best talents.

  2. Samantha Ladd says

    September 17, 2015 at 6:16 pm

    LOL

    This is great. Our first day last week did not go as smoothly as I would have liked either, we forgot our neatly packed lunches and had to run to the gas station for sandwiches and passable fruit tucked into plastic sacks.

    I love how honest you are… it does make looking at all of those ‘perfect’ FB images a little more bearable.

    Oh… and yes Knuckerhole definitely needs to become part of our vocabulary!

  3. Shantel says

    September 22, 2015 at 3:58 pm

    Yes! I’m always like “Why are they printing custom chalkboard prints to frame and take pictures with!? Don’t they know I don’t have the time for that, let alone the budget?” but then, as the time approaches – I get sucked in and think that I should probably do just something simple. And then simple gets less-simple. And it’s either a smashing success or a complete failure. Flip a coin.

    Thanks for sharing your life adventures. I think you’re awesome.

  4. Jill says

    October 2, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    Frames? They are framing them? Yikes, I’m lucky to scribble it out with a Sharpie on the back of the picture my daughter brought home from Nursery on Sunday while they shovel in their cold cereal every year on the first day.
    Also, I’m sad for your red wagon. We have a gate on our driveway that decided to bounce back from the fence one morning after I opened it, and I backed into it. It scrunched up in a rainbow shape and wouldn’t close anymore, allowing our dog to escape and frollic the neighborhood to her heart’s content until we could fix it.
    Great post!

Primary Sidebar

Buy the Books!

Drops of Awesome Journal

Inspiration Straight to Your Inbox

Visit Us On FacebookVisit Us On TwitterVisit Us On PinterestVisit Us On YoutubeVisit Us On LinkedinCheck Our Feed
523 Ways to Be Awesome
Bucket of Awesome

Other Places to Find Me

Amazon Author Page
Familius (My Publisher - Best Place for Bulk Book Orders)
How Does She?
Parenting
I'm a Mormon

Life on the Instagram

[instagram-feed]

So Many Drops

  • November 2020
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • March 2018
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • May 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress