Thursday, May 22, 2014

Oh the things you'll see...

Today was a busy day. We've been up to our ears in Spring fieldwork (when Mother Nature isn't busy sprinkling us with raindrops, that is) and Moving Day dawned bright and early this morning so we've been busy fixing fences, cleaning barns, checking water lines, and all the assorted tasks that need to be done before the cows can come to their summer quarters. Between all this, there's been the usual household stuff too-laundry and dishes that pile up in an instant, floors that never seem to stay swept for more than 5 minutes, mail that needs to be sorted/entered/filed/etc., etc. etc. etc.  Throw in the usual dr visits, grocery shopping, and other errand running and there's my life. Since I decided I'm not nearly busy enough, I'm seeing a new chiropractor in a town a few hours south of us. (She's trained in a different style of chiropractic care and has done alot of work with pregnant women so I figured I'd see what it was all about.) I'm on bi-weekly appointments now-that is, I'm seeing her for 2 appointments a week, not every other week-so I get to see alot of scenery (and trains as my kids are oh-so-fond of pointing out) on my 2.5 hour trek.  But today I saw something I didn't expect to see.

An Amish buggy.

A real Amish buggy being pulled by a fast trotting horse.

Now this isn't an unusual sight in our area as we have a few Amish communities in the surrounding countryside but this was a very rare sighting indeed. Not because of WHAT it was but because of WHERE it was.

I saw this Amish buggy being driven along a rather busy section of an expressway.  A split highway with a speed limit of 65mph.

And here's this plain black boxy buggy and the quick stepping brown horse just dawdling along (or so it appeared when I drove by doing a rather un-sedate 65mph).

Just yesterday I was on the verge of a mini-(pregnancy hormone related) meltdown because of how hectic life has gotten all of a sudden and I was feeling very frustrated. Frustrated at the condition of my household, frustrated at the lack of time for myself, frustrated at the amount of work that needs to be done before this baby arrives, frustrated at the long hours I spend driving to appointments (chiro is 2.5 hours away, dr is 1 hour away, dentist is the same). And then I see this buggy. It made me giggle and wonder what brought this Amish person out on such a busy BUSY road with fast moving traffic.  And then it got me thinking.

It was a quirky and oddly timely sight because it (in a weird way) reminded me to appreciate the things around me even when I'm feeling rushed and out of sorts.  That it pays to slow down once in a while and actually look around.  Even if I can't literally slow down, I can still figuratively ease off on my frantic pace.

So today, after my buggy sighting, I started paying attention to the view on my lengthy drive.  And you know what? I noticed that the leaves on the trees popped out when I wasn't looking. I heard my kids giggling over some odd, made-up toddler joke that only they could understand.  Instead of thinking and worrying about how I was going to get everything done today, I just sat back in my seat and enjoyed my drive.

All because I saw a buggy on a freeway.

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