Tag: #timeout

After a long and taxing day. It was finally time to head home and relax. Per my planner, I had just enough time to grab dinner and my Mentee and be home by 6:15pm to work on the new quilt project. Getting into the car I received a text …’don’t want Chinese. Think I want those sausages in the freezer. My response text was … ok. Cool. Then text two came from person two … I think I will eat those burgers in the freezer. My response … great!
As i am getting into the groove of my ‘The History Hour BBC podcast on Nike and Sweatshops’ (exciting! I know!) and while sitting at a red light for the third cycle, in comes text three … can you bring hotdog and hamburger buns home? My response …nothing -because I am seething! They are home … I am still trying to get there. Couldn’t one of them have easily gone 1 block to the store? And then I thought, well I am out and will pass by a few stores so I can stop. Plus I was going to stop and bring Chinese anyway. So I finally text back …sure.
Still in traffic, seething (yep, I am back to where I started), tired, hungry, hot (a/c works when it feels like it) and just want to rant (let me see, which of the three gf’s will it be😊). I knew I needed a time out because an adult temper tantrum can seriously ruin a day! I wanted to pull into a parking lot and take a few minutes to get myself under control but I was still hungry, hot and tired; plus there were people waiting on buns, a Mentee to pick up, dishes to clean, laundry to wash and a project to worked on. Annndddd … I sat through another light cycle at a different light. Finally drained and had nothing else to give, I aimed for the next restaurant. Dragging into the restaurant like a zombie, I take a seat by a window and say a prayer of thanksgiving. I was truly grateful to be in a cool, bright place with someone else cooking my dinner and bringing it to me and the ability to pay for it. I still felt guilty that there were two people waiting on those buns.
As I sat there, listening to my podcast and enjoying my meal, I actually began to unwind and feel refreshed. I dared myself to look at my watch. I smiled at a few people and played with a baby that was overjoyed with life and … ordered a milkshake! Leaving the restaurant, I stopped at the next grocery store I came to and … yes, you guessed it; there were long lines and I had a pack of hotdog buns. A miracle happened -a cashier open a line just for me! No, no, not just for me. He was a manager who walked out and saw two long lines and said, ‘I can take guests on three’! Several of us made a mad dash to his lane as if Saint Peter was closing the gates to heaven and never to be opened again. I left the store and made it to pick up my Mentee by 6:15pm and was home by 6:25pm. Yes! Triumphant! And I’m feeling good! My Mentee and I walk inside and hand over the buns and head upstairs to start or quilt project. A voice stops us … ‘did you get only hot dog buns? You didn’t get hamburger buns? And, without a word, I grabbed my Mentee’ hand, turned around, walked down the stairs and out the door to the store that is one block from our house.
I didn’t say I had a perfect life but I do have a life that is worth living. So glad that in spite of my plans, the Lord orders my steps and gives rest, even when I do not think it is ok to take a rest. Oh! And that gourmet meal with impeccable service and friendly babies … guess.