I truly believe that no moment in life is too small. Each moment counts and while I often fail to recognize that, I at least strive to. When I do manage to capture those moments, it feels so good.
This past Monday I had one of those. I recognized that I had a moment and I needed to make the most of it. It was after a very long day. It was one of those days where you are exhausted from a lack of sleep, you felt pressed to meet deadlines for work, a simple trip to the grocery store turned into a nightmare and in between all of that was lots of chauffeuring and rushing to get kids from one place to the next.
One of the last tasks that I had before I could finally sit down at home and relax was driving my oldest son to Civil Air Patrol. He attends weekly meetings at an airport located half an hour from our home. The half hour there and half hour back really crunches into my night and if I’m lucky, my husband is around to at least pick him back up later in the evening.
Needless to say by this time I was tired. But I was looking forward to the quiet drive. My son always has his iPod with him so I can count on silence unless I decide to turn on the radio. However, I was in the mood for silence. But lo and behold, my 16-year-old son was in the mood to talk. Believe me, this is a rare opportunity that I get. I had a choice to make.
I could make it obvious I was looking forward to the quiet or I could make the most of the moment and appreciate the time together. Thankfully this time I made the right decision. For the next half hour we talked. We talked about things that I was so excited to talk about; I had to refrain from showing it. I figured that if I showed too much emotion or excitement it would shut him down.
But we had a great conversation about girls, relationships, friends, the popular crowd at high school and the “nerds.” I mean, we covered virtually every ground of high school that you could. It was wonderful. The half hour went by too fast, though.
So I am savoring it. He is not always in one of those moods to talk and if he is it is typically not about subjects like these. What if I had missed that moment? Remember to make the most of moments. You just never know when you will get to experience them again.