stop and Smell the pine needles

Often times simple is better. Less is more and the slower you go the quicker things get done. That being said, I have recently realized that I do none of these things. I am always rushing around to the point where I can’t get out of my own way. I try to do too many things at once resulting in only getting some of them completed, and not as thoroughly as they should be. And I always, ALWAYS think that the more I do, the further I run, the healthier I eat, the earlier I get to bed, the more groceries I carry in at once, the better off I will be.

I am an overachieving failure.

How many of you think and feel the same way?! Be honest with yourself. We ALL do it. As a mom time is precious. As a dad time is precious. Grandma? Grandpa? Young, single and driven? Yup. Precious. 

We try so hard to stick to a routine sometimes with comical consequences. Trying to change two diapers at once. It IS possible. However when the size 6 diaper ends up on the 4 month old and I only realize it because the size 2 diaper doesn't actually fit the 2 year old. Or at 6 am the washer goes through it’s entire cycle, I go to switch it feeling proud of the wash being half done before I even leave the house in the morning, and there was NOTHING IN THE MACHINE.
OR how about when I put the poor dog out and realize half an hour later I forgot my most loyal friend. But there she is faithfully sitting on the front step, her brown eyes blinking back at me through the rain drops. OR just when I’m ready to head out the door in the morning and a diaper suddenly needs to be changed. So I put everything down (don’t spill the coffee!) head into the bathroom and FORGET TO BRING THE BABY!
And the day rushes on. Sweating, I load everyone in the car. Sweating, I arrive at work pretending I’m super calm and collected. Sweating, I load everyone back into the car at the end of the day. And you guessed it, sweating I drag everyone back into the house just so I can sweat through the time of day I like to call “the hours of treachery.” Which includes a rapidly consumed dinner as everyone and everything around me is either crying, talking, barking or knocking shit over.  

These are some of the crazy, hectic, laughable things that happen daily in my life. Time really does just pass you by, fast. That is if you don’t stop once in a while, feel your feet on the ground and smell the fricken pine needles. Pine needles you ask? I like the way pine needles smell when they are hot from the summer sun. I figured I would share that with you.

Anyhow….. the dishes will still be there, the laundry will still need washing and the dirt will still be on the floor to sweep. But you know what won't be? Those same moments with my kids. My husband. My mom. My Dad. My brother. Everything else, pending no ones life is at stake, can wait. 

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