Sometimes it sucks to be in charge. As a single parent, there are many responsibilities under my aegis. Can I handle them all? Yes. Can I manage them all well? Nope.

I sort of fell apart over, of all things, a vegetarian lasagna. We were shopping at Giant one day. My older son Erick checked out a few things separately. As I checked out, the screen offered a free turkey in exchange for 400 points.

The boys are going to be with their dad on Thanksgiving. Erick doesn’t eat meat anyway. So a 12-plus pound turkey, even free, was not a great choice. So I skipped it.

To my surprise, Erick came out of checkout waving a piece of paper. He said, “Mom, I got you this coupon for a free turkey.” Uh oh. I looked at his receipt. Yep, 400 points gone. I had planned to use them for a discount on gas. Whoops.

So when it came time to redeem the coupon, I was happy to see it could be traded for a vegetarian lasagna. I don’t love vegetarian lasagna, but Erick does. So I brought it home. It was too large to fit in the freezer. So I cooked it for dinner.

My youngest, James, didn’t like it. I ate a little, and made something else for James. I left the pan on the counter, and texted Erick.

To my dismay, the pan was still on the counter in the morning. Everyone was tired, and it never made it to the fridge.

I kind of fell apart. Wasting food upsets me. Wasting gas points upsets me. Unfortunately, it took me a while to accept the loss, and I said some very stupid things.

Being in charge sucks.