Taking Tay to School...it's the little things.
Before this last week, I don't think I'd taken either one of the girls to school this year. Aly has her license and Tay is in High School with her now, so they are on the same schedule. This has been really convenient, but also really sad at the same time.
You see, when you miss those moments in a day that don't seem all that important but really are, you find yourself dislocated. It's more than 10 minutes in a car each morning, it's an opportunity for a small interaction or a simple hug.
I had to take Taylor to school a couple days this week and it hit me that I hadn't done that in forever. The car was cold, so I reached over to hold her cold hand (or for her to warm up my cold hand, I can't remember.) As our fingers intertwined I realized that I hadn't held her hand for quite some time. As she got out of the car and leaned over to give me a give me a kiss followed by "I love you, dad.", I realized that I haven't heard "I love you, dad" in the morning for a very, very long time. We have been like ships passing in the night, or more accurately, the morning.
I asked her a couple questions on the way to school, nothing terribly deep, just some "setting the tone of the day" questions. I spoke a couple words of love and truth into her as she steeled herself for the onslaught of school-life. Again, I must say this, we didn't have this "moment" that was transcendent...but that's just it, it was just the kind of ordinary interactions that, added together, create a significant life. I truly believe that faithfulness in obscure moments over time is what leaves the legacy that we're all craving to leave. It's not extraordinary moments that impact a person as much as a collection of ordinary moments stretched out over one's life. I look back on my life and the ones who have made the greatest impact weren't "one and done", they were just showing up day after day in the mundanity of it all. The menial became meaningful as the years went on...those forgettable windows like a quick ride to school added together created a lasting impression.
As I held her little hand in mine and chatted about life, I quickly realized that I miss taking my girls to school. I told them this last week that even though they can drive, I want to take them to school and pick them up like I used to just so that we can have that connection. The "to and from". The space between. The meantime. These moments suspended between events are where life is shared and found.
It's crazy how you lose something along the way that you almost never knew you had in the first place. That was close. I almost missed it, and in some small way, that would have been tragic because it was so easy to miss and yet so important to catch. I wonder how many other little things fall by the wayside as life unfolds that I'm unaware of? I have to be sure to keep my antenna up in order to pick up these signals, these frequencies that are easy to forget.
It's the little things.
You see, when you miss those moments in a day that don't seem all that important but really are, you find yourself dislocated. It's more than 10 minutes in a car each morning, it's an opportunity for a small interaction or a simple hug.
I had to take Taylor to school a couple days this week and it hit me that I hadn't done that in forever. The car was cold, so I reached over to hold her cold hand (or for her to warm up my cold hand, I can't remember.) As our fingers intertwined I realized that I hadn't held her hand for quite some time. As she got out of the car and leaned over to give me a give me a kiss followed by "I love you, dad.", I realized that I haven't heard "I love you, dad" in the morning for a very, very long time. We have been like ships passing in the night, or more accurately, the morning.
I asked her a couple questions on the way to school, nothing terribly deep, just some "setting the tone of the day" questions. I spoke a couple words of love and truth into her as she steeled herself for the onslaught of school-life. Again, I must say this, we didn't have this "moment" that was transcendent...but that's just it, it was just the kind of ordinary interactions that, added together, create a significant life. I truly believe that faithfulness in obscure moments over time is what leaves the legacy that we're all craving to leave. It's not extraordinary moments that impact a person as much as a collection of ordinary moments stretched out over one's life. I look back on my life and the ones who have made the greatest impact weren't "one and done", they were just showing up day after day in the mundanity of it all. The menial became meaningful as the years went on...those forgettable windows like a quick ride to school added together created a lasting impression.
As I held her little hand in mine and chatted about life, I quickly realized that I miss taking my girls to school. I told them this last week that even though they can drive, I want to take them to school and pick them up like I used to just so that we can have that connection. The "to and from". The space between. The meantime. These moments suspended between events are where life is shared and found.
It's crazy how you lose something along the way that you almost never knew you had in the first place. That was close. I almost missed it, and in some small way, that would have been tragic because it was so easy to miss and yet so important to catch. I wonder how many other little things fall by the wayside as life unfolds that I'm unaware of? I have to be sure to keep my antenna up in order to pick up these signals, these frequencies that are easy to forget.
It's the little things.
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