So this morning I had a little moment of perspective on life....today was headcount day for the EC Dept (this is the day that we have to have every EC teacher verify their caseloads to make sure we have all kids accounted for, for funding)....its kind of like a rat race to run around to each school, have teachers look over sign their sheets and then run back to the finish line...in the past I have always wanted to be 1st, but somehow that changed for me before I even got to work this morning....
I needed to be at the central office to collect the sheets by 7:45 so I was making decent timing (for me being that it was morning and I am not a morning person)....I was putting my bracelets on and looked out my bedroom window and I could see headlights at the top of the road (we live on a dead end road, just us and family), so this was odd....I panicked (bc if you know me I immediately assume something is wrong)....I texted Brooks and he was going back by our house to take Brit to save me some time this morning...he said he would stop by....I went downstairs and could clearly see that there was someone stopped, so I hurried and gathered my stuff, ran to the car and locked myself in the garage, in the car, bc if you know me, you know I assumed someone was probably going to rob me at 7:15 this morning, in the garage.....as I am approaching the top of the road, so is Brooks from the other direction, he gets their 1st and stops at the lady standing beside of her car.....(keep in mind its 7:20ish and I really need to be on time or EARLY if possible to win the "race")......Brooks starts to drive away and I see that she has a flat tire (yes, I overreacted, this is not new).....so I roll the window down and say yikes, thats not good, are you okay? She responds with, yes, I just don't know how I am going to get my kids to school.....I look at her like I dont have an answer, I say sorry, good luck, roll the window up and drive off.....so I go a 1/2 mile to the stop sign and Brooks is waiting on me, I told him I felt really bad and that HE (not me bc he is the saver in a crisis situation) should go try and help her, he said I have Brit, I am going to be late, so I said well I feel terrible, I am going to ask her if I can take her kids to school......SO I whipped it around and thought....this is a chance out of my norm (which is hard for me) where someone needs help, I was kind of rude to say sorry and drive away, I felt guilty the whole 1/2 mile down the road, I knew in that moment I would be late for work, but was being 10-15 mins late not worth trying to help someone who's day started off on a flat tire!?!?! I was willing to lose the race, to be late, to throw my normal caution in the air because someone NEEDED help...I am not good at helping when it comes to flat tires or accidents that involve blood, but I surely can take some kids 3 miles to school.......
I get back to her and she is on the phone, I pull over, roll the window down and say I will take your kids to school, well I guess I hadn't thought through the fact that is is 2016 and can anyone really be trusted these days, she kind of looked at me as I had looked at her (when I said sorry and drove off the 1st time) and said well, ummm,,,hmmmm, I am not sure.....I said I understand, but if they need a ride I can take them....she hesitated, which I would have too (would I really let me kids hitchhike with some stranger, NO).....at that moment someone on the other end of the line said they would come get them.....and the problem was solved.....BUT it has had me thinking ALL day.....
What is really our purpose in life? Is it to win the race to something that there really isn't a winner? Is it to focus our time and efforts on work always? Is it to just drive off when someone truly needs help? I don't have the answer.....I just knew this morning, that the answer was to offer help.....we (I am speaking mostly for myself) are so caught up in this and that, work, schedules, kids activities, etc, that do we really know what our purpose is?? Last week over spring break I had my normal to-do spring cleaning list and I made a vow that I would NOT touch work for 9 days....I succeed at not touching work or much of anything on the to-do list....this is not normal for me, but is my normal, my purpose? We had several down days last week.....days that we only did things for a couple of hours in the whole 24 hour span (this is not normal...ours days are usually 18 hours long)....so yesterday when I got home, from a not so fun 1st day back.....we played outside...I "normally" try and work a few more hours before soccer practice and dinner, but not yesterday we went outside.....and then today when I needed to get to work to accomplish the to-do list of the day.....I made a U-turn out of my norm.....because what is our purpose?!?!? I struggle drawing the line between accomplishing my to-do list at work and even at home and actually doing things that matter for OTHERS and not just myself or my family.....today was a little bit of a wake-up call....that could have easily been me with a flat tire and I would have probably sat in the car crying calling Brooks without even getting out to see what was wrong.....I am guilty of thinking I know what my purpose is....but today I learned it wasn't about winning a race......
Much love, Alysha
