Note to self: Working parents should not sign their kids up for multiple sports and activities and expect to remain sane.

Chris calls me at work today: “I’m feeling overwhelmed,” he says. Tommy has soccer practice at 4:30 in Berkeley, Sam has soccer practice at 5 in Richmond. Jackie (one of our three babysitters) is picking up Sam at school at 1:45 (early release day for 5th graders), Jackie has to leave to go to a class, Rachel (another of our babysitters) will pick up Tommy at 3:10 and help him dress for soccer practice. Can I pick up Tommy at 5:30? “It’s a deal,” I reply, if you can take the kids to school tomorrow while I try to make an early work meeting. Deal.

It’s only Wednseday and I’m already making mental plans for Saturday, when Tommy has T-Ball and soccer, Sam has soccer, we have a mock earthquate drill on our block, I am invited to a “literary ladies lunch,” driving my nephew to an appointment and having people over for dinner. To make this work, we need a spread sheet. It’s really a shame that neither of us are “spreadsheet people.”

One day, someone will do a research study on the effect of this type of mental multitasking on the brain. It will not be pretty.