Somebody once told me ‘life is what happens when you’re busy doing other things’
Now, that I’m older, and hopefully more mature, I completely relate to the quote,
And I regret all the moments I told someone: ‘Sorry, I’m busy’…
Was I really busy?
Or was it just the quickest and least painful excuse to refuse myself from:
Being there for my growing siblings, and not simply pretending to act as their stand-in mother’. I regret I was too busy to ‘taking care of them’ instead of being the sister and friend they needed me to be;
I’m sorry for always finding reasons not to talk to parents over the weekend, even though they were thousands of miles away and hearing my voice would have given them a great deal of joy;
Going outside with one of my children, and engaging in some made-up fantastic adventure, only because I was finishing up a work piece;
Being patient with my husband after he’d had a tough day at work;
Being there for a friend who tried to share the challenges and misfortunes of a declining relationship;
Now I realize that the dishes can always wait in the sink, the laundry will go nowhere if it doesn’t get done, but my kid’s childhood is too precious to be wasted way;
I discovered that listening to a friend in need, returning a phone call, sending a ‘just because’ greeting card to a long lost classmate are way more valuable than any work deadline to be met.
I now understand the importance of enjoying a glass of wine at the end of a rough day, with the one I chose to be my partner for life is priceless – especially when he allows me to partake into his difficulties. I’m grateful I can be that person for him, listening, advising, finding a solution together.
I learned I can’t be busy when life calls in; life can’t be happening around me while I’m occupied with mundane chores; life needs me to do my part…
I hope to live every moment of my present and future, thoroughly, and will be glad to tell life: “It’s okay, I’ll take your call, I’m not busy…”
♥
Post in response to the Daily Prompt, “Sorry, I’m busy”.
3rdculturechildren 