Saturday, October 24, 2009

Day Fifty - Eight or Getting Ahead of Myself

So I got a great lesson in slowing down today.



As I mentioned previously, I have been under the weather as of late. (What does that phrase mean "under the weather"? Are we ever over the weather? I mean, I've heard of Over the Rainbow but where is Over the Weather? All right, all right, I digress.) I've been under the weather so long that my two-year old daughter has taken to asking in her delightful two-year old dialect "You betta mommy? You not sick animah?" (translation -- anymore) You know it's bad when your child wants a daily health forecast.

So despite being less than 100%, I had my teaching gig today. And before you worry, I am not contagious!!! I have a couple of conditions (of which I will spare you the less than exciting details) that cause me to feel rotten for a long time after I am a carrier of anything. I have no cough. My temperature has stayed safely below the 100.3 marker and I have the "okay". Most importantly, is that I LOVE my kids. Teaching is a real passion and I would NEVER do anything to endanger my kids. So I hope that is cleared up. Now back to regular programming.

This morning. I was moving slowly and I left a little late for work. SO what does one do when they are running late? Certainly not speed. Certainly not me. So of course those were not red and blue lights spinning behind me. No, not me. Not this morning. Not when I am already running late.

The truth is, I needed to slow down. I was actually stopped by a truly nice officer who only gave me a warning, despite the fact that my husband forgot (AGAIN!) to put the new insurance card in the car. ("It was in my wallet, babe" is not helpful when the officer needs proof.) He was nice enough to say that I wasn't speeding too badly -- only 58 in a 45. Whoa! I'd hate to see bad. But really, what was I doing? I was so caught up in my anxiety about being late that I had no idea how fast I was going. As I said, I needed to slow down.

Now I should interject here. I hate, Hate, HATE being late. Although I am not nor ever have been together, I am usually punctual. I literally get physically ill when I am running late. But...

I needed to slow down. So I sat there while the gentleman (he really was!) filled out all the computer info and I thought about the fact that I had lost sight of what I was doing in the moment and was worried about what might happen if I was late. If I was late. Here's the kicker. It took twelve minutes to get the non-ticket and I was six minutes late! So, even with my less than average math skills, I wouldn't have been late. I would have had SIX minutes. If I had just slowed down. So thank you Officer H. You were right...

I needed to slow down.

9 comments:

mommakin said...

At least it was only a speeding warning (not even a ticket! double lucky!) I've heard of too many folks having heart attacks as a reminder to slow down... (I'm ridiculously prompt, too. We don't even refer to it as being on time in my family, we refer to it as 'being Howardly')

Amira said...

You gorgeous blonde, you! I have never in my life gotten a warning--only tickets. I'm glad you felt well enough to teach, I know I always feel energized and grounded after a good acting class.

♥Frann♥ said...

♥нσρє ιѕ тнє вяιgнт ѕнιиιиg ℓιgнт ωнιcн кєєρѕ dαякиєѕѕ αт тнє вαу нσρє ιѕ тнє gєитℓє cσℓd вяєєzє σи α нσт ѕυммєя dαу ♥

Tracie said...

Something bad always happens to me when I'm rushing around. Whether it's spilling coffe because I'm walking too fast or almost hitting the neighbors dog pulling out of the driveway. I'm glad you only got a warning!

Veronica Lee said...

Hi! I'm visiting from MBC. Great blog.

Mama-Face said...

Oh, yes I a thing about being on time. I am almost always early. If I think I am going to be late I remind myself over and over that if I get stopped then I will really be late and then I start to worry if I have their number to let someone know I will be late. Which just tells you i worry too much!

I LOVE teachers. You have a special place in my heart. :)

Claudya Martinez said...

I can't stand being late either, but the truth is that the world will keep spinning even if you are late and rushing just makes you show up all discombobulated which ends up wasting more time.

If I ask really nicely, will you please get rid of the word verification on your comments? I hate it (I'm not the only one) and it really slows down the whole commenting process.

Traci said...

Just for you, UM, I have made my first foray into blog makeover. I didn't even know I had word verification (I hate it, too!) and guess what now I don't. :-)

BONNIE K said...

I am neurotic about arriving early everywhere. I always have a bunch of what-ifs in my brain - what if there's a traffic accident, etc. But I have to add I am so envious of the people who are stopped and given a warning. How come that never happens to anyone in my family?