We just forgot where we set it down.

“Ugh!” she though as she rolled over to turn off the alarm clock.  “Why did I go to bed so late?”

She immediately starting going over the list of things she had to do that day in her head.

“Let’s see.  I have to get up and make breakfast, the kids need to be dressed, I have those 2 bills I need to take care of, the laundry needs to be sorted, washed, dried and put away.  Then there’s the flowers that need to be watered, the dishes in the sink from last night, the living room needs to be dusted and vacuumed and I can’t forget to feed the fish.  Oh, and then we have to get to the grocery store.  Darn, then there’s that doctor’s appointment at 2 and I hope that we can get done in enough time to meet Mom at 3:30 for lunch!”

She threw the blankets off of herself, lugged herself to the coffee pot, looked around and got started right away.  No time for coffee.  She had no time to waste.  Heck, she didn’t even have time to breathe!

Sound familiar? This is the story of my life.  Day in and day out.  So overwhelmed by all of the daily tasks that one day becomes the next and before I know it 3 weeks have passed unnoticed.  Sometimes I don’t even know what day it is unless I force myself to look at a calendar.  Then I realize that I’m way pass due on 3 different bills, I’ve got another doctor’s appointment tomorrow that I forgot to plan for and I’ve just lost 3 weeks in the blink of an eye.  I often ask myself ‘Where does time go?’

So, I replayed the words of my counselor in my head.  “All you HAVE to do every day, absolutely, no exceptions , is breathe.”  I’ve not heard better advice in I’m not sure how long.  I took his advice.  I sucked in air like there would be none left for dessert.  I let it fill my lungs and I let myself feel it coming back out.  I did it again.  My head began to clear and I looked around me and realized how much I’d been missing.  

The first thing I noticed was that my herb garden that was so hastily shoved aside on my  kitchen window sill had begun to grow quite beautifully.  Looking out the window I saw that my neighbor had planted some new pink flowers underneath her bushes.  They were pretty.   The sky was blue for the first time in days and the clouds actually looked like white pieces of popcorn cotton candy.  The streetlights were on and it was already 9 o’clock in the morning.  Bizzare.

I spent the day picking out the little things.  Those little things that so often go unnoticed.  I watched Michael write his name and smiled when he wrote the ‘C’ backwards.  All in capital letters.  I listened to Brendan as he tried so hard to sing his ‘ABC’s.’  Hard to believe he turns 4 tomorrow.  I watched as they deligently worked together to build a tower of blocks they wanted to name ‘CarCart.’ I counted the kisses I got all afternoon.  By bedtime we were up to 9.

I spent some time talking to friends.  It was on the phone, but it meant the same.  I listened to them.  Their words, their emotions, their voices.  I tried to listen for their smiles, hear it in their voices.  I let myself actually feel the words they were saying.  Not just hear them.    I let myself feel the blessing I had been given by having them in my life.    

I took some time out to make a phone call to that special someone out there.   I sat down to have the conversation instead of running around trying to do things while I talked.  I noticed how funny his jokes really were, and how his laughter was so light.   I took note of the softness in his voice.  One of the things that gives him character.  I picked out the way he said certain words, and how that makes me smile.  I pictured the story he was telling, saw him struggling with his hat in the wind, laughing at how it must have looked.  I was sad that I had let all of the kisses to my forehead go unnoticed.  I promised not to let that happen again.

Now that the day is winding down and it’s nearing bedtime, I realize that my day was actually fulfilling.  I feel as if I spent the day doing the only thing I should have been doing.  Living.  Life is much more interesting when you take the time to slow it down and realize that we don’t have all of the time in the world, but what we do have is right now.  Why fill it with endless worry, scrambling around, and squeezing the lights out of it.  Live it.  That’s what it’s for.  Do the things you need to do, but take notice of it while  you do it.  

Life is out there.  It never went anywhere.  We just forgot where we had set it down.