My school organised a camp for all 8-graders this week. Which meant that I got to go home earlier today. Basically had the entire afternoon free.

Except that free time isn’t exactly mine. There is always one thing to strike off my parenting list. Today’s errand was getting my son to take a passport-sized photo for the renewal of his passport. I relegated my desire for solitude to the back of my mind, fully intent on getting that done.

I picked him up early from school and marched him to the photo shop. Here’s where the curveball struck me. Apparently, since my son was wearing a white shirt, it might not contrast well against the white background. The Immigration Authority might reject his application as a result.

In a more dog-tired mode, I would have sighed heavily and cursed my luck for not foreseeing this. But because I was reasonably well-rested, I told my son that yeah let’s buy a new shirt. I then marched him to the nearest Uniqlo store.

They actually don’t see shirts for children but I managed to get him a dark blue polo tee with a white line around the neck. He liked it!

And we strolled back to the photo store to take his passport photo. Mission accomplished!

I’m glad that I had the grace to go with the flow. As well as the presence of mind to set aside abundant time to deal with unexpected scenarios such as this. Giving myself a pat on my shoulder.