Summer is Over, Back to Rules & Order

Loida Casares Ruiz

Wife, Mother, Writer, Advertising Manager

Loida Casares Ruiz grew up in Northeast Houston. She graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Minor in English. She received a Master of Arts in Communication in 2001. She works in advertising by day and is a mother, wife, and writer by night. She has al...

Loida Casares Ruiz

Sunday, August, 24, 2008

School starts tomorrow. This is it. Back to a regular routine. Not that summer didn’t have somewhat of a routine, but it was a little more flexible. School is not flexible. With my daughter starting second grade tomorrow I should be an old pro, yet I still feel oddly unprepared. Maybe it’s because this year my son, the baby, is also starting school. He’s going to be in a full day Pre-K, and yes, I’m nervous.

Two years ago when my daughter started kindergarten I had a really hard time getting to school on time. One day I received a call from the assistant principal. My daughter’s teacher asked him to call me to talk to me about my punctuality. Or lack of. It took all that I had not to crack up. I wanted to so bad. I did later when I told all my friends about it and blogged about it. I even wrote about it in a poem that I read at First Friday, a local poetry event.

School teachers and administrators crack me up. Not that I don’t have a profound respect for what they do. I do! And I think they are the most underpaid profession along with policemen, firemen, and nurses. What cracks me up is how intense they are. They are life’s rule followers. That's why it's so weird when one of them breaks the law, like this recent string of female teachers having sex with underage students. Anyway, I digress.

I love that scene in "Never Been Kissed" with Drew Barrymore.

When the gym teacher tells her that if she doesn't pass gym she won't get into college.

And Drew Barrymore tells her, "Y'all are still telling that lie?" It's hilarious!

So I’m going back to that world. The world of rule-following and order. I’m not saying that my job doesn’t consist of rules, because it does. It’s just that the rules are a little more flexible in my profession.

In sales it’s all about making the numbers. If you aren’t doing your job it shows up in your numbers. If you aren’t making your numbers, because you are having a bad month, you better show that you’re working really hard to make them. It’s the same on the news writing side. As long as you are writing your stories and turning them in, you are good. Drew Barrymore is a journalist in the movie, so she could probably relate to what I’m saying.

Tomorrow is the day. This is for all you mothers who are doing the same thing I am today. It’s the day of preparation and order. My hat goes off to you! I feel your pain!