Today I had spend the day at home from work taking care of my wife. She slipped on some black ice at the post office yesterday and landed flat on her back. She described it as a “Fred Flintstone fall”. You know the kind where you land on your back. She also hit her head and was pretty banged up. Luckily, she is just in pain, no major injuries. She woke up this morning feeling “like she got run over by a truck”. She needs some rest and that’s where I come in.
I took the girls to school this morning swapping my familiar two lane country drive with a busier main drag route. My son doesn’t go to pre-school on Tues or Thurs so it was my job to occupy his time and keep him quiet so mama could get some rest. This was the silver lining part. It fit in perfectly to our new self imposed directive to a slower pace and enjoy the time with loved ones.
We played a few games together — Don’t Break the Ice and Hi Ho Cherry O — practiced his alphabet and spelling, played soccer with the dogs out back and took a short hike while getting the mail. It was nice to just spend some time with him out in the sun (even though it was only 47F) with the birds singing and dogs running around. I could have propped him in front of a DVD and worked on a project (like I have been guilty of in the old days) but it felt really good and deeply rewarding. And most importantly, it allowed my wife a break that she needed to just rest and heal up. Tomorrow she will ease back into her world of chef, taxi and mom.
Another funny observation — all the snow and ice we received Sunday night (that my wife slipped on) was gone by Monday afternoon. We also awoke Saturday morning to a white countryside which melted later that afternoon. I really like the snow here. It shows up, you get to enjoy it fall and blanket everything, play in it for a while and then it goes away. Other than the week-long snow we had a Christmas, it snows here but doesn’t hang around long.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
