May 26 15

Here’s the thing about being a working mom.

(Or being a mom of any kind. Or being a person of any kind)

Hours, minutes, seconds are extremely important.

I try to spend as few minutes of my day getting to and from places because frankly I’d rather spend those minutes DOING. I’d rather spend the minutes watching a school play or watching my son play football or hearing about how my daughter’s presentation went.

I give three forehead kisses each morning and race out of the house to get to work (16 minutes). I race out of the office so I can get to school pick up (21 minutes). I race to dance, I race to football, I race to the grocery store, I race to swimming lessons.

I once raced downtown to try to get my daughter Emily and me to our second-row-of-the-balcony seats for Les Miserables. I used my fairly intuitive knowledge of how to drive downtown (Read: not very intuitive at all.)(Read: It was really just stubbornness—I don’t need a GPS!) I took us on a very busy highway that was impossible to get off of once you got on (It’s basically The Hotel California). Where we sat. And sat. And sat. I watched the clock change minute after minute after minute. I started sweating, I started panicking.

In tears, we finally made it to the Princess of Wales parking garage. Well, *I* was in tears.

Lot full.

We found another one close by.

Lot full.

Finally we found a lot that only took coins and we had to dig beneath the seats of the car to find enough change to equal the $15 we had to pay for parking and then motor over to the theater, late.

We made it to our seats by the beginning of At The End of The Dayonly tripping over seventeen people.

I learned my lesson that night. We made it in the end, and had a great mama and daughter evening.

Emily-Ali-Les-Miserables

But I learned that being stubborn kind of gets me nowhere.  I learned that as a working mom (or any mom, or any person), (perhaps consider changing to “getting places faster” and leave out the hashtag as it may not fit here as well)#GetHomeFaster is more important that my fairly not intuitive intuition and more important than my stubbornness.

My time with these three kids of mine is super precious and I’m so thankful for my TomTom GO 500 GPS.

The people at TomTom understand my (and your!) need to #GetHomeFaster, or sometimes in my case, my need to #GetDowntownFaster. I can plug in my destination, hook it up to my phone, and see the traffic from my house to the theater. I can plug in my office, the football field, the kids’ school. I can take shorter routes and maybe sweat and panic a little bit less.

unnamed

Because I’m taking Emily downtown to see Once soon, and I’m pretty excited to get there on time.

(But shhhh don’t tell her — it’s a surprise)

***And because I love my readers, I have an extra TomTom GO 500 GPS unit to give to one of YOU! All you have to do is tell me what your favourite stage play is in the comments below and you are automatically entered to win. I will be randomly choosing a winner at 9pm on Tuesday, June 2nd. Good luck! Tell your friends! This one is definitely worth it! ***

 

{Note: I was compensated for my review of the TomTom GO 500 GPS, but I can assure you that all opinions about it are my own. Additionally, I take credit for all of my stubbornness and still feel badly about Emily missing the beginning of Les Miserables}

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  1. WICKED!!

    Comment by Tee on May 26, 2015
  2. The Scarlet Pimpernel.

    Comment by mashie feintuch on May 26, 2015
  3. Les Miserables

    Comment by Teresa on May 26, 2015
  4. I loved Mamma Mia.

    Comment by Maria on May 26, 2015
  5. Rent

    Comment by JODI on May 26, 2015
  6. My favorite play was “Tommy” because besides being a really great musical, it was also my first date with my wife.

    This TomTom GO 500 GPS will be a great 18th year anniversary gift!!!

    Comment by Steve on May 26, 2015
  7. Wicked! We ALWAYS miss the beginning of shows/movies/you name it because my husband is notoriously late. Used to drive me mad! I’ve come to accept it – not that we make it to the theatre all that often anymore!! #thingsevenatomtomcantfix ????

    Comment by Joelle on May 26, 2015
  8. I have such a soft spot for Phantom thanks to family memories, and of course Lion King because…Lion King.

    Comment by Jessica L on May 26, 2015
  9. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

    Comment by Yael on May 26, 2015
  10. And of course all of the school-related stage plays my children ever performed in!

    Comment by Yael on May 26, 2015
  11. Les miserable

    Comment by Chana on May 26, 2015
  12. First time show favourite would be Phantom. I also love anything by Ibsen. Hannah Moscovitch plays if we are talking Canadian!

    Comment by marie on May 26, 2015
  13. It isn’t a very famous play but I loved Forbidden Broadway SVU it was basically a parody on many different Broadway plays. We saw it on our honeymoon. My husband sang along to all the pre play music .

    Comment by Jpm on May 27, 2015
  14. I loved Cats

    Comment by Courtney on May 27, 2015
  15. I loved Mamma Mia. I have seen it twice while in NY!

    Comment by Michelle M on May 27, 2015
  16. Les Mis!

    Comment by Stephanie on May 27, 2015
  17. les miserables hands down – i’ve seen it way too many times to count, and still get chills each time

    Comment by Katy on May 27, 2015
  18. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!

    Comment by Claire on May 27, 2015
  19. Just saw the Soulpepper’s production of The Dybbuk, which was awesome, so it’s my new favourite.

    Comment by Angela on May 28, 2015
  20. Wicked! The best musical ever written. Amazing lyrics, score, acting and writing are superb.

    Comment by Angela on May 29, 2015
  21. Lion King! First date my husband and I went on together!

    Comment by Laurie on June 1, 2015
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