Running Red Momma

I always find myself rushing about each day. Each second seems to count as I rush off to the next thing. One of my typical "mom mornings" found me in my usual spot. "Hurry, Hurry, get those shoes on, get that jacket...." I got one on the bus, one to preschool, dropped one off to a rec day care and hurried to my forty minute exercise break. I jumped in the pool to quickly get my stress reducing routine done. An older woman I know from church saw me and swam over to say hi. She told me she liked going to the pool because it got it her out of the house and gave her something to do. Wow. Same location, same time and same activity. Yet, we were here for such different reasons. I kept thinking about it as I swam.  I want to slow down and give things/people their space. I want to stop walking ahead of my children. I know you do it. Or, am I really that mean? I want to listen to their stories.  I want to not regret staying home/miss my former career girl life....

In my local church, I have been asked to spotlight a person of my choice.  I ask them about their present interests as well as some of their history. I got to know a person from The Greatest Generation.   This older woman has lived it all.  She had driven an old Tin Lizzy.  She watched her father die, in their home,  from cancer in his late 40s.  I'm sure he died without much pain relief or hospice care.  Thereafter, she supported her family for a while.   She told me she does not remember working for her family.  She just remembers not doing well in school that year!  Her mother reminded her she supported the family.   As I looked at her scrapbook, her husband recorded how he had never previously been asked to talk about his WWII experiences.  He was uncomfortable doing so, but shared some stories on paper. He had been a prisoner of war and had come home to live a full life.  This gentle, unassuming couple has raised a large family and lives a quiet life.  Their history contain...