My son is home from college for his Winter Break. That might explain why I find many foreign pairs of shoes by the front door in the morning. This is usually a clue that there are numerous young male guests sleeping somewhere in our house. When my husband woke up yesterday morning and went down to eat breakfast, my son and his friends were about to “call it a night”. Since he’s has been back, my sleep has been disrupted by the front door opening and closing at odd hours, and sounds of laughter and music emanating from the basement.
In a few days, my house will be full— my oldest son is coming home. I’m having company over for dinner and have been busy planning the menu and shopping. In addition to my work-related responsibilities, I’ve been focused on what chores I need to get accomplished around the house. Needless to say, I’ve been quite preoccupied with all this additional “stuff” going on in my house.
I woke up this morning with the intent to eat breakfast, work out and then knock some items off my to-do list. As I put my car in reverse, I began to think about all the things I needed to get done. Deep in thought, I wondered whether I should wrap the gifts this afternoon or go to the store and get more of my grocery shopping completed. I was jolted out of my thinking by the sound of metal crunching metal. For a few seconds, I couldn’t figure out what just happened. Then it occurred to me— I totally disregarded the fact that my son’s car was in the driveway. I backed up, not paying attention to what was behind me.
I sat there for a few seconds trying to wish everything away. Slowly, I got out of the car to survey the damage. At that moment, I was much more concerned that his older, smaller car had been demolished by mine. His car looked fine, other than a few scratches— I was shocked and relieved. For a couple of seconds, I had a vision of being able to get away with few repercussions. That’s when I turned to look at my own car— no such luck. I had severely damaged the bumper.
It’s important for me to be honest here. I began this story by giving you all the excuses as to why this “turn of events” occurred. But, I realize that the excuses just exist to allow me to feel a little better. The reality is this: I hit his car because I was trying to get things done too quickly while having too many things on my plate. Lets be brutally honest here and throw “not being truly present“ into the mix— now you know exactly why I hit the car.
Does this sound familiar to any of you? We all have times in life when we’re trying to juggle too many responsibilities and aren’t really being mindful of what we’re doing. It seems to go with the territory of being a woman. In lieu of this, I’ve decided on my New Year’s resolution— I will do a better job of recognizing when I’ve hit overload and taken on too much responsibility. I’ll try harder to be fully present at all times and slow down! Last, and most importantly, I’ll always turn around when I back out of my garage. I’m hoping you will do the same.
