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.