January 17, 2011 by Sarah
surely make you lose your mind. Seriously. Of course, I’m not referring to the life of parties and drunken escapades that the Eagles famously sing about. I’m talking about the pace of life, about the time it takes to go from having a thought to acting on that thought and checking it off the proverbial list.
For quite sometime now, we’ve been living in the slow lane, but didn’t know it. Oh, there were times we thought we were in the fast lane, juggling kids activities, personal hobbies, work, church, volunteer life, playdates, and the usual errands– you know, 2 grocery store trips a week + 4 trips to Target (no, I have no idea why we are always there, am I the only one who seems to be addicted to that place?) + oil changes–and whatever else. But in the slow lane, you juggle all that stuff and you’re worn out. So, when you notice that 3 of your flower beds need weeding and mulching, you don’t sweat it. You just coast. There’s always time for that.
And when you have a leak in the a/c drain pan, you fix it, but maybe not the ceiling where it left a wet mark, that has since dried out and poses no problem, but looks ugly if anyone looks at it. (of course, you hope your guests just don’t notice it). There’s always time for that.
And of course, there’s gutters that need to be cleaned out. But, yep, you guessed it, there’s time for that.
Oh, yeah, this is a list that could go on and on, but I need not reveal all my flaws here, right?
And, in the slow lane, which means you think you’re going to be in your house for the foreseeable future, living the same basic life…. there IS always time for that. So, if you want to go to the movies or the park, you just do. Because, really, what does it matter if the plants in the gutters grow another few leaves before you yank them out, and what does it matter if your guests do notice the stained ceiling so long as you’re nice to them, and unless you’re going for yard of the month, a few weeds don’t matter. Because, guess what? They’ll still be there when you get around to it. Really. Maybe bigger or uglier, but still there, patiently waiting for you.
Why? Because you’re in the slow lane, and it’s nice in the slow lane. You can enjoy the scenery, stop to smell the roses, or take potty breaks, whatever you want.
But we have put the metal to the pedal, or is it the pedal to the metal? Well, whatever it is, that’s what we’ve done. We’re gunning it now. In addition to trying to maintain as much of a normal life as possible, we’re now on top of all the little things. So, for example, this weekend we cleaned the house, did laundry, met with friends for a super fun time, I finalized plans for the bathroom remodel, including buying tiles and finishing up the design of it all, and then cleaned out my closet and dresser, throwing out a bag of stuff and giving away several more. And that was only Friday night and Saturday.
Smelling the roses looks really different these days and potty breaks are nearly non-existent around here. Smelling the roses looks like Travis somehow making time to play a board game with the kids yesterday and Thomas has literally been bringing in roses from outside for us to enjoy. And we met up with friends today at the Space Center between morning and evening worship. We have to keep making time for rest stops, we’re just choosing them carefully. Friends matter. Being kind to each other matters.
But life here is fast. And I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon. We’ll be living in DC for a very short time and so I want to make the most of it, visiting historic sites, camping out in the Smithsonian, trying to allow our time their to fill my senses. And I want to make good connections with others in the foreign service while we’re there. And I can only imagine how much paperwork we will need to take care of before moving overseas.
And once we’re overseas, it will be similar. We will be at our first post for only two years. Two years!! That is literally less time than it would take us to clean out the gutters. We’ll need to make the most of it, while at the same time savoring it, which makes me think of a leisurely Italian meal. We’ll need to make new friendships, and keep up with family and old friends, as well as school life.
So, we’re living life in the fast lane. And I don’t want change that. Because you know, there’s a certain adrenaline rush that goes along with the fast lane. I just hope you’ll pardon us if we look a little wind-blown!