Things to Do - Slowing Down

A few weeks ago T insisted we take a walk around the block. For no particular reason. It took an hour as we stopped to: watch construction workers build and/or destroy houses, jump in every leaf pile along the road, collect sticks, hit sticks against tree trunks (I have no idea why, but this is T's favorite activity), pretend a long branch was a hose squirting me with water (according to T, I got "really really wet"), pick up leaves, and hide behind bushes. After three kids, this is the part of parenting that I feel I'm becoming better at - dwelling on the details. Not always saying "it's time to move along" (like I ALWAYS said to the girls). And I can't help but wonder how things will change in the years ahead. I suppose the the children will keep getting faster and more hurried, while I'll continually become better at slowing things down. How odd this seems.

My dad used to drive me back and forth from college. The drive took five hours and my father would insist that we stop at a rest stop so he could smoke a cigarette. SLOWLY smoke a cigarette, while we watched the cars on the road. We rarely talked during these times and some days the waiting drove me CRAZY. I just wanted to be "there", I saw no point in prolonging the trip. I thought about this a lot watching T attack trees. I wanted to call my dad and say "I get it now." But of course, I was too late. I guess this is the problem with parenting, the timing between generations is always off. Of course, this is the benefit too. It's how we learn and grow and continually adjust.