Schedule mishap

Japanese kindergarten and elementary schools get out early on Wednesdays.  I've asked if this was for teacher training or something else, but was met with a definitive "it's just how it has always been done."  Ask a silly question and get a silly answer, I guess.

Due to the limited amount of time of the school day, every Wednesday I have a strict schedule.  I go swimming and FaceTime with a friend to study Japanese before picking up my son from school.  Since it is early release, my son doesn't take lunch to school.  Instead we go out for lunch and then hang out with friends.

Today, when I dropped my son off at school, I took a few moments to chat with a mom who is studying English.  She had an exam this past Saturday, so I wanted to see how it went.  After her update, I told her I had to hurry and be on my way since today is the short school day and I have a bunch of things to do.  She looked at me with surprise and said "Today is a normal day!  Did you pack your son a bento?"

I was surprised to hear this information.  I had not packed my son a bento.  Suddenly, my schedule changed quite a bit as I needed to rush home, put together a lunch for my son, and get it to the school before my study session.  I didn't have any hot rice in the rice cooker, so I stopped by the store to pick up a rice bowl.  I then took the rice bowl home and tossed it in his bento box and put a few extra items on top - fish cake and ume.  I then put his lunch into his bento bag, along with his placemat, a spoon, and a banana.  I closed it up and headed back to the school.

I felt bad for this mistake.  I should have known, but it wasn't in the calendar that my husband updates and I didn't send my husband the daily update on Tuesday.  In a former life, I was an event coordinator and these things didn't happen to me.  But, in my current reality, these things do happen.  There is a lot of things that are lost in translation or don't even get translated.  Sometimes it is not a big deal, and other times it results in a bit or a lot of stress.

At first I was beating myself up about it.  But then I took a moment to recognize - my son wasn't left at school when all the other kids were being picked up.  He didn't realize the snafu.  He was blissfully ignorant of the whole thing.  So, in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter.  I still made it to my study session on time and I can go swimming tomorrow morning.  It really isn't a big deal. 

As I waded through the morning chaos, I had 2 more offers of assistance from other moms at the school.  I now have even more support to make sure I know about schedule changes and happenings at the school.  So, hopefully, this won't happen again.