Tick Tick Tick
My mom and grandma just left after a quick visit. They drove down to spend the weekend with the kids and celebrate Jake's birthday. My grandma turned 91 on October 1, the same day Jake turned 4. In March she was hospitalized and she hasn't been the same since. She used to be an avid walker, now she sits a lot. And because she can't hear very well, she gets left out of a lot of conversations.
But what I noticed most, or became more aware of, this visit was how our fast-paced world, my fast-paced world, just swirls around her. Obviously part of it is physical - she just can't move as quickly or nimbly as many of us. But she also is much more prone than I to sip a cup of coffee or read the newspaper front to back or do nothing but sit, eyes closed, on the porch, listening to the birds, feeling the sun. Granted, if I did that, some things would just not get done. But, on the other hand, at the end of the day, she's sleeping under the same roof I am, having eaten the same food I did.
I don't mean to imply "We're all going to die so what's the use in running ourselves ragged." But I do mean to say, figuratively, metaphorically, if you had to get from point A to point B in 12 hours, and you knew you'd arrive there safely no matter what, would you take the scenic route or would you drive through downtown, with its construction, honking horns, fits and spurts of traffic, congestion.
Because what I'm finally realizing is that no matter how stressed I get about a clean house or unfolded laundry or an overflowing garbage can, at the end of the day, the house is generally tidy, the laundry is usually folded and the garbage can be emptied. But if you've not sipped a cup of coffee or sat in serene silence or felt the sun on your face, does the rest of it matter?
But what I noticed most, or became more aware of, this visit was how our fast-paced world, my fast-paced world, just swirls around her. Obviously part of it is physical - she just can't move as quickly or nimbly as many of us. But she also is much more prone than I to sip a cup of coffee or read the newspaper front to back or do nothing but sit, eyes closed, on the porch, listening to the birds, feeling the sun. Granted, if I did that, some things would just not get done. But, on the other hand, at the end of the day, she's sleeping under the same roof I am, having eaten the same food I did.
I don't mean to imply "We're all going to die so what's the use in running ourselves ragged." But I do mean to say, figuratively, metaphorically, if you had to get from point A to point B in 12 hours, and you knew you'd arrive there safely no matter what, would you take the scenic route or would you drive through downtown, with its construction, honking horns, fits and spurts of traffic, congestion.
Because what I'm finally realizing is that no matter how stressed I get about a clean house or unfolded laundry or an overflowing garbage can, at the end of the day, the house is generally tidy, the laundry is usually folded and the garbage can be emptied. But if you've not sipped a cup of coffee or sat in serene silence or felt the sun on your face, does the rest of it matter?
posted by Romine Family at 10:07 AM
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