Many years back, stuck in traffic heading over the Golden Gate Bridge, we were all being funnelled into one lane and I let a car go in front of me. The traffic was horrendous, the heat was oppressive and I was in a foul mood. The bumper sticker read: Having a great life wish I was there.
That was over a decade ago and the message is still with me–a tattoo in my mind. There are times when I am multi tasking, feeding the dog, on the phone, making a salad, and then inevitably something goes awry; I knock the dog bowl over, I cut my finger, the phone flies into the sink soaked requiring a whole other headache knowing I have to deal with a phone company. And then after having a bit of a meltdown I stop. I come back to the tattoo in my mind. I slow down. I pick up the pieces and start again.
Some days I remember, some moments I remember just one thing, one thing at a time. Feed the dog. Cut the carrot. Sit down and make the call.
I am still a work in progress. I still have those moments of forgetfulness but more and more I take that pause. I feel the ground under one foot and then the other. This is when I am in my life and not wishing I were there.