I'm Rule Follower. Except for When I'm Not.

I like to think I'm a stand up guy.

I mean girl.

And I can't type or say "I'm a stand up guy" without flashing back to pledging Sigma Theta Chi in 1987 and having to yell "Oliver North is a stand up guy!" whenever we saw our pledge mom (Big Sig) (she thought good ol' Ollie got a raw deal in the whole Iran Contra thing).

All of which is neither here nor there and ultimately has nothing to do with this story.

ANYway, I like to think I am a rule follower in most situations. And I am.

Except for when I'm not.

Take the case of yesterday's tardy. Well, I knew we were late, I saw the barricade blocking the car drop off line, so I knew we had to pay the piper and schlep on into (actually beside, there's a convenient window) the office for an unexcused tardy slip, which we did. After Annelise was in class another classmate of hers came be-bopping on in, from the direction of the Pre-K/sanctuary entrance, and did not get a tardy.

This morning, as we were coming down to the wire, screaming along on two wheels and of course there was a silly amount of traffic and putt-putt drivers along our route to school, we cruised on into the parking lot at 8:30, technically tardy territory. Instead of entering by the office we went through the other side, like said classmate did yesterday, and lo and behold, Annelise did not get a tardy.

So I broke the rules.
Sort of.
I certainly cheated.

However, there should not be such gaping holes (aka alternative entrances) in her school's tardy policy. And the funny thing is I passed a few other moms and technically tardy children on my way out as they were on their way in.

So.

Yesterday I was bothered by the unfairness of one child (mine) getting a tardy while another one didn't.

Today, not so much.