Learning to slow down..

God has been doing a lot in my heart in regard to my time, my marriage, my kids. I have a son who will be 4 yrs old in 3 months and a daughter who will be 1 1/2 next month. My kids are growing up too quick in my opinion and there are times that I am present, in the moment just relishing the time and loving every minute. Then there are times life just flies by and I wonder how we got here. Life these days is just busy. I like it at times but then there are times I want some downtime.

This last week I watched Oprah. I sometimes watch it if it is a good topic. Well, the 2 I watched this week were good. The first show I watched was about a mother who accidentally left her daughter in the car the entire day while she was at work. Her husband normally was the one who took the kids to daycare but that day he had an appt so she had to do it. It was first day back to work for her (she was a vice-principal) she said her mind was just full of all things to do and the daycare was not open yet so she stopped to get some donuts then she got back on the road she always drove and went to work. Her daughter had fallen asleep in the back. She had forgotten to take her b/c it was out of her routine. She even talked about her daughters throughout her day, but never remembered that she had left her baby in the car.

After 8 hours it was discovered that the child was in the car by a co-worker who walked by her car and saw the child. So sad!!!! Her little girl baked to death as it was a hot August day. I heard the 911 tape that is what made me ball. I will not even say what the eye witnesses said as the visual is deplorable. Something you will never forget hearing.

But after watching this episode I felt more sorry and empathetic to this poor lady then anything. I was not outraged or mad. I just hurt for her. I felt the grief and pain she carried and still carries to this day. I did not cast judgement as it could have been anyone. Literally I say that b/c as Moms we are stressed out. Our brains are just overloaded. We are overwhelmed.

My take from the interview was this women is a loving mother. She was just busy. She made a mistake and it was deadly.

I have had moments of forgetting to buckle my kids in their car seats, forgetting to turn the oven off and leaving the house, have had the urge to run to grab something while the kids play in the tub. These are all things I am not proud of. But it is all b/c we all live a busy life and we get so overloaded.


What I take away from watching this show was there is always a cost to our busyness. We may not all make such a deadly mistake but may come close if we don't slow down. We are a society that is frantic and frazzled. We always have to be doing something and when we are not we wonder what is wrong. I know for me it is hard for me to just sit and not do anything. I sometimes can't even watch TV or a movie (when I can) w/o reading something or typing away at the computer at times.

But my new outlook is to slow down, be present and not be in a rush. It will be hard transition b/c life is not slowing down but it is so worth it. My babies are worth it.