By Jen Adair, Blogger at Slightly Tilted, Entreprenuer, Homeschool Mom to two fab kiddos
The other day I pulled up to the house and left the car running in the driveway while I dropped off kid #1 and picked up kid #2 to go to his next social outing. While I was inside, I decided to take an extra minute to run a toothbrush over my coffee tasting teeth. When we ran back outside, the car was inside the garage, which momentarily confused the heck out of me. Hadn’t I left it in the driveway?
Yes, I was sure I had left in the driveway. I realized that somehow it had glided into garage – missing my hubby’s car by centimeters – and had hit the refrigerator. Now, we assume my car was still in drive and I had neglected to put it in park when I stopped. HOWEVER, we have had no luck recreating the event to determine just what exactly happened.
I’m pretty sure I know what happened, though. I had too many places to be, too much on my mind, and was so focused on one thing that I forgot the million other things – like putting the car in park — that I needed to do. Plus, I probably had to pee.
Welcome to my life.
It sounds a lot like your life. Am I right? Well, maybe not the car thing, but the feeling that I have so much on my plate that I don’t even get to taste what I’m eating before I have to take the next bite. Maybe that’s why my jeans are a tad bit snug? That’s what I’m blaming in on, anyway.
The car thing brought out something I wouldn’t have thought possible, though. Gratitude. Now why in the world would I be thankful that my car barged in my garage and crumpled my” beer and extra milk and place to put the casseroles” fridge? Well, for starters, no one was in the garage and got in the way of a car being driven by a ghost.
Secondly, it didn’t do any damage to speak of to my car, although the fridge needs a new door. Thirdly, the refrigerator stopped the car from going through the garage wall. Lastly, the car was this close to hitting my husband’s car and, if that had happened, this may be a post about my upcoming divorce. But it didn’t. So, you get this post about being grateful instead.
I am grateful for my busy life and I’m grateful when things like this happen, because it reminds me to slow down and breathe. Let me tell you a little about breathing that I learned when I was in 7th grade: if you continually inhale and forget to exhale, you will hyperventilate and pass out in the doctor’s office and never be able to look that doctor in the eye again because you feel like he’ll always remember you as the girl who didn’t know how to breathe correctly. Yes, that’s a true story.
Exhale. Don’t always inhale that next bite of whatever is on your plate. Take a breath first. Put the car in park.
Be grateful. Even when life rams your beer fridge.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hey. I’m Jen Adair. I’m an entrepreneur. Homeschool mom. CEO of organized chaos. Ok – it’s really not all that organized. Some days are great, some are not, some days I feel invincible, some days I can barely get out of bed. BUT…it’s my life and I’m living it. Browse my collection of random thoughts, humor (well, I think I’m funny!), images, links, whatever…at my blog Slightly Tilted. Sharing is caring, people! 🙂
