Flyer Fanatic

I know that everyone is waiting to hear how the Flemons’ flyer route is going.

We got a new route! We got a new wagon. It was the last wagon at Canadian Tire, and it can convert to a sleigh! It was definitely a sign. 

Now (in theory) we can walk from our house to our route. 

Since the new route is closer to home, I had the ridiculous notion that the kids would know where we were, and therefore would require less supervision. I have one word for that—HA!

Our whole route is built on a U-shaped drive—like a horseshoe! So, it seemed our luck was changing. Not so. On our first day, I sent Faven and Yohannes to do flyers on a loop, and they were to rejoin Laurèn and I on the main drive. They never appeared. It got dark. My heart started to palpitate.

Laurèn made her way home and I went to retrieve the van so that I could search for the kids. Because I am directionally challenged, I have a ton of empathy for others who may turn left when they should have turned right. I have been known to lose my car at a mall, only because I came out the wrong set of mall doors!

I drove down the streets slowly, but I could not find them anywhere. I put my hand to my forehead in anguish and then decided to drive in the opposite direction from where they should have been. This time, I rolled the windows down. As I was inching along the drive, I heard a familiar voice yell - “MOM”. I stopped. Faven was sitting on the curb, all alone and miserable. Her and Yohannes had a fight about which street exactly they were supposed to deliver flyers to, and where they were supposed to meet up with us. So, in the 40 minutes since I had last seen them, they had managed to deliver ZERO flyers, and had spent the time hurling insults and ice balls at each other! For no extra charge, we are doing advertising for the flyer company. (Teach your kids to be responsible – like mine!)

My husband recently told someone, “I think that [Wendy] takes on too many things”. He was, tacitly, referring to the flyer route that I hadn’t even considered discussing with him. But perhaps just as questionable, in his mind, are my commitments to: managing soccer teams, fostering furry felines, and family fundraising for Animal Shelters, World Wildlife Foundation and Earth Rangers—not to mention the work we do together for Canadian Humanitarian.

No one is going to accuse me of not supporting my kid’s ideas. Hmmm… But, this flyer route really feels like a do-or-die situation. Our kids want for nothing. We are blessed with all of the things that we need, or even want. Ward and I did not grow up like this, and it creates a lot of angst in me that our kids are not learning the value of a dollar, or how to make their own way in the world. Moreover, I really want them to be independent one day.

I suppose that I do go the extra mile—maybe the laminated maps and cards I made with the route broken down into chunks was a bit much—but I think my kids appreciate the support—even though they haven’t yet perfected the art of expressing that to me.

Parenting is the hardest thing that I have ever done. I came back from our recent trip to Ethiopia renewed by the idea that it is also the most important work that I have to do, right now.  If I have any opportunity to change the world, it starts here at home, one flyer at a time.

This is Faven last night, during the blizzard- she came out of a driveway and stumbled right into this snowbank!