One of Those Mornings

It was one of those mornings.

You know what I'm talking about.  You've had them.  Every item on the to-do list is five minutes behind schedule (cumulatively) and takes twice as long to accomplish as it should.  Even as things are not being accomplished, the mind is racing forward to all of the things that have yet to (not) be accomplished in a quickly diminishing space of time.

It's not a fun place to be.

According to the Tao of Pooh, I've got a little Eeyore, a little Piglet, a little Kanga and a little Owl going on - all striving towards becoming more Pooh-like.  When I have a Rabbit day, it throws me off.  I am not a Rabbit, not one little bit.  Some people thrive on that, but not me.

Yet that's what yesterday was shaping up to be.  A Rabbit day.

I had dropped the last child off at school - nine minutes behind our schedule, but still on time, thank goodness.  I was plugging my next destination into the GPS when I remembered that there are always police cars in the school parking lot in the morning and maybe I should pull over until I was done typing.  (Always good advice, kids.  Texting - or typing of any sort - and driving is bad, m'kay?)

I pulled halfway into a parking spot and saw this:

If that doesn't make you want to slow down for a moment, I don't know what will.  I pulled all the way into the parking spot and put on the brakes.  I felt the stress and worry of too many chores and not enough time melt away as I watched it turn into this:

Then this:

It took less than two minutes.

It didn't significantly impact the timeliness of my chores.  It QUITE significantly impacted my mood for the rest of the day.

I don't want to be so cliche as to remind you to stop and smell the roses - but would it be okay if I reminded you to stop and watch the sky?

Or maybe, if you've got to have a Rabbit day, take some time for some Pooh chores.

You'd be surprised, there's so much to be done,

Count all the bees in the hive

Chase all the clouds from the sky...

~The House at Pooh Corner, Kenny Loggins

Oh, and if you're wondering if my long list of chores got accomplished - it didn't.  Not entirely.  Priorities were placed.  Some things were started and left unfinished.  And do you know what happened as a result of this?  Nothing.  The world kept spinning.

The importance of my little errands and chores had been greatly exaggerated in my own mind.  

I'll leave you with this, 'cause I'm feelin' groovy.