Mom Guilt and Life Skills

Following many discussions on acquiring new rabbits, participating in hopping competitions and showing rabbits in non-4-H shows, I finally told Blossom1, "You research it.  You find a show that's close and find one that is not on Sunday.  Find one that is having a hopping competition too."  (Many rabbit shows are on Sunday, but we try to keep Sunday a day of rest for our family.)

Off she went.  She researched for days until she discovered a show a little over an hour from our place.  It met all the requirements.  I wasn't too thrilled though.  It was the day after the play, a pinnacle of the last three busy months.  Honestly, my plans for that Saturday included sitting on the couch, drinking tea, and maybe, if I felt a little ambitious, working on the grocery list.

Nevertheless, I discussed this rabbit show with the Rugged Mountain Man, because this show met all of the requirements.  We somewhat reluctantly decided the girls would participate, mainly because Blossom1 is passionate about rabbits.  I communicated that Blossom1's part in the play was not to suffer in any way AND she would have to prepare for it herself, as I had already exceeded my event planning capacity with the play, other life details and the usual minorly important details of feeding, clothing, and educating a family of six.

As all of the details for Egg White and the Seven Muffins came together, we wrapped up our school year and attended our last few practices, I noticed notes on the white board and piles in the basement.  Blossom1 had begun her planning.  Meanwhile, I kept my nose to my schedule grindstone.

After our stellar performance and all the unloading of props and materials in our garage, I turned my attention to the rabbit show.  This was about 10:00 pm.  I'd already been informed by Blossom1, that we needed to leave by 6:15 am.  What follows is my list of preparations for the rabbit show:

1. Move GPS from van to truck.
2. Pack bag of snacks.
3. Grab a pack of baby wipes out of the van.

As I lay in my bed, reviewing our evening's performance of Egg White and then, thinking of the next day, I felt a stab of mom guilt.

"I should've put more thought into the rabbit show.  It's SO important to her."

I turned over and went to sleep, thinking I should've done more, even though I'd already given 110% over the past three months to bring about something else that I knew was important to three of the four Blossoms.

The alarms went off early the next morning.  The girls did their usual choring and we headed out the door.  We arrived in time for our early registration and got our livestock situated.

Nothing was forgotten.
She had all the information specific to each rabbit to register for the shows we were participating in.
She was prepared for pre-show rabbit preparation.
She had prepped all the rabbits at home all week.
She had all the equipment for the rabbit hopping competition.
She had all the equipment for the shows.
She made sure she had money from her account to pay the fees and buy other equipment from the rabbit supplier.
She even had the address printed for the GPS.

Blossom2 helped to prepare and carry out all of this, but Blossom1 master-minded it.

I kept thinking something was going to go awry, since I wasn't prepared.

My friends joke that I prefer planning six months in advance.  This is not far from the truth.  I'd literally planned for 5 minutes last night so I was astonished that there were no glitches.

Blossom1 had engineered a road trip for 6 rabbits and 6 people and she did it all by herself.

My mom guilt finally melted away.  I'd just watched her nail a life skill - managing logistics.  I resolved to stand back a little more and let the Blossoms do it, because, clearly, they can.

You're probably wondering about the results of the hopping competition, Sebastian did so-so.  At times he'd sprint through four jumps and screech to a halt only to be coaxed by one of the girls to hop over.  That's the fun of rabbit hopping.  Sometimes they hop and sometimes they don't.  It's downright comical.  In any case, a fourth place finish isn't too bad for his first attempt and a little experience under his belt.  Blossom2's suspicions were confirmed; he likes to hop!

For the rabbit show, the rabbits did well and the girls were pleased that Digory, one of our main meat rabbits, placed first and gained a "leg" of Grand Champion.  The judge also had some really good things to say about another of our breeders.

And yes, we came home with two new rabbits.  Evidently, that's what 4-h families do.  We collect rabbits.

At least it wasn't two new cows.