When Life's {Busy} Enough

my sweet family being good sports despite Mommy's mistake

 As if life's not busy enough, I accidentally added an extra activity to our family calendar this past Saturday.

The night before I had assembled most of the pieces of the boys' soccer uniforms. I had mentally checked off the necessities for a family of seven who would be spending at least three hours at the fields (Ian and Alec had a game at 11:00 a.m., with Owen's game later at 1:00 p.m.) We had a picked up a few odds and ends at Target, namely a spectator chair and a size 3 soccer ball for the little guys.

And I had confirmed - at least to my own mind - that the AWANA hayride would take place that Saturday evening. This meant printing directions off the internet; setting out changes of clothes; and planning ahead to snarf down Subway sandwiches - all between the 2:00 p.m. end of Owen's game and the 3:00 p.m. departure time (calculating how long it would take us between Delaware and Maryland!)

What I hadn't counted on was driving through University of Delaware's campus on a bustling weekend, which slowed us down a bit. I also hadn't planned on fuzzy directions that didn't exactly get us where we wanted to be. We were close, but I knew we needed help. So I did what any daughter would do - call Dad in the case of emergency!

He knew where we needed to be, as he had gone to the hayride the year before. So that was good. But he sounded a bit puzzled as he answered my question, and soon followed it up with one of his own.

"Stephanie, isn't the hayride next Saturday? I was just working on the church bulletin and I'm pretty sure it said October 6."

Oh. No. Are you kidding me?

I glanced over at my husband, patiently driving an hour away on unfamiliar roads to make this outing happen. I looked back at my kids, bouncing not-so-patiently in their seats from anxious excitement over their very first hay ride. And I had to tell them, Mommy made (another!) mistake.

Needless to say, initially there was great disappointment in the Garciamobile. But rather than waste the trip, we decided to drive around the stables and try to figure out exactly where we needed to come next week. In so doing, we discovered that this was a far larger place that we'd expected and that some lovely trails just beckoned us to stretch our car-weary legs.

Pedro led the way and we saw some absolutely beautiful sights. Strong, silky horses relaxing at pasture; and barn-red covered bridges with the delightfully musty scent of damp wood. Clusters of fish paused motionless in the greenish water below the bridge. Strange, bumpy green clusters falling from black walnut trees (and instantly and grossly dubbed "brains" by the kids!) Tree roots twisted at nonsensical angles in the shade of their great branches; and an antique stone root cellar resting peacefully in a green clearing.

 

 

Ironically, it was this "extra" activity accidentally added to our {busy} calendar that allowed our family a breath of peace and tranquility in the midst of it all.

Reminder: Life should never be so busy that beauty can't find her way in!