the tire metaphor

Last week, like many weeks, has been full of the busy. Meetings, practices, activities, errands, school, work...laundry. Can I tell you how much I can't stand laundry? It's never ending...

The hum of the every day commitments and tasks drown out a part of us that screams for attention. The part of us that needs to slow down, take a breath. When we can't balance out the busy with the not-so-busy, the stand in place with the go-go-go, life has a funny way of reminding us to take a moment and shift focus.

Driving home from my second job I didn't notice anything different. Highway for 45 minutes with two errands to run before picking up the kids from school, I watched the clock waiting for a stop light. Noticing my fatigue and a short line in the McDonalds drive thru I decided an afternoon dose of caffeine was in order. While waiting to pay, someone picking up trash in the parking lot flagged me and I rolled down the window.

"Your back tire is flat."

Thanking him and driving to the nearest gas station I got out and took a look at the supposed flat tire. My air pressure gage hadn't gone off, and I didn't feel anything different from driving. At first I had the false hope that he had been mistaken.

Not so much.

After attempting to fill the tire up with air, and not seeing any evidence of progress; I got home,  picked up the kids and panicked. Mark had two tests in a matter of 12 hours and though he was willing to put it off to help, I was able to phone a friend and get the tire patched up without any cost to us. Well, I wouldn't say any cost...we count "time" at a pretty valuable exchange rate around these parts.

It got me thinking, as I was waiting in the mechanic's row of chairs, wondering what I would be doing right then if I hadn't had to deal with this cumbersome task.

Metaphors wait, dripping in anticipation, for moments like these.

Here we are, going along our path-speeding down roads from A to B. Rarely we have a moment to glance out the window and give the scenery a second look. Instead we are too busy already waiting for the stoplight up ahead, or visualizing the next few tasks until we can get to where we're headed. Always trying to get somewhere and our minds are in other places.

That is until we are forced to stop. Be it a flat tire, an empty tank, a turtle crossing the road for all I know. Whatever it is, we're now unable to rely on the hum of an engine- the blinders that we put on to the world as we're going, going, going.

When the inevitable stop comes...because let's face it everything fatigues. Sometimes it's our vehicle. Sometimes it's the driver. We have to take that as an opportunity to breathe. Our schedules will never allow it, our deadlines push us into corners that make it impossible to get that chance. But really, that is what we're missing. The opportunities to get away from the green light and the on-ramps. As annoying as they are, speed bumps and speed limits have their purpose too. And even flat tires.

Patching it up is the easy part...we get to decide the type of miles we put on ourselves.