patience

How to slow down? That's the question. We go to the grocery store, the boys and I, and Greyson, ever curious, is looking at this, looking at that, picking up "tickets" (the freebie coupons from the coupon machines)—and I'm barking at him to "hurry up", "come on", "let's go". I try to teach them to start picking up their toys, knowing that this is a lesson that needs to be learned in baby steps. Well, of course, what they do is stop at every other toy and start playing with it. And there I am again, "go go go", "hurry up", "let's get this done!"

I just don't know how to get this self-imposed sense of "hurry" out of my head. I mean, it isn't as though it matters whether it takes us half an hour or two hours to get through the grocery store, or how long it takes us to walk to the park. It seems like I get so focused on the destination—getting the task done, "getting there"—that I rush right through the journey as if it isn't important. And of course with toddlers, the journey IS the destination, so rushing through it is rushing through their childhood, basically.