STOPPING TO SMELL THE ROSES
Repost and edited from September 2010
A cup of coffee, my favorite pen and a fresh tablet… Stopping to smell the roses.. I guess it doesn’t get much better than that.
Understanding it is truly the little things in life that bring joy, is a gift from God. It’s easy to get sidetracked by the bigger things in life. We get consumed with the tasks of life and let them choke out the more important things in life. That’s what happened to me today.
I’ve often heard it referred to as “stopping to smell the roses.”
I’ve also bought my share of roses but rarely take a whiff in the process. I’m reminded of my bad habit of missing the important things… Again.
Today was my youngest daughters first cross country meet. Not of the year, but of her life. It’s not completely my fault due to an error by the hosting school to not send a follow-up schedule change yesterday.
I dropped the little one off at school two hours before the meet was to start. She was a bit nervous so I said, “I don’t care how you finish, I’m just proud of you for doing something in spite of being nervous.” She quickly answered with a grin, “You mean like driving the go-carts?” I smiled and answered, “Yeah, like driving the go-carts.” That was last weekends, “Face Your Fears” lesson. Her smile indicated her appreciation for my persistence.
Instead of driving leisurely to the meet, my calculations gave me about an hour and a half to multi-task and knock down a lot of birds with a few stones.
When I got the word the meet was to start an hour earlier, it was too late. I drove like an idiot trying desperately to make up time, but to no avail. I missed my daughters first cross country race.
I know those “important items” needing to be crossed off my list could have waited. I could have done those later and if pushed, I could have postponed them until Monday.
The only thing I couldn’t change is my little girl’s first race, whenever it was going to be.
As I was speeding down the freeway, glancing between the speedometer and the clock, regret settled in my stomach. Another rose I let slip away without a sniff.
My daughter has a great heart and is always forgiving. She knows I’m proud of her, not just for placing with a good time, but mostly for facing her fears and giving absolutely all she had. When I finally got there, I could see her sense of accomplishment, in her smile and demeanor. She wore her sweat like a medal of honor.
I can’t get that time back. I’ll never have the image in my mind of my little girl finishing her first race.
stopping to smell the roses
I really enjoyed the cartoon “The Flinstones” when I was a kid. Well, except for the part at the beginning of the show when the saber tooth house cat kicked Fred out of his own house and locked the door.
Often in that cartoon Fred would do something stupid or selfish, usually to his wife Wilma or his daughter Pebbles. When Fred realized how foolish he’d been, he would start to physically shrink in his chair. He would shrink to the point where he was one-eighth the size of the seat itself.
I didn’t understand what the cartoonist was trying to communicate at that time in my life. I understand now that Fred was feeling regret, he was feeling smaller as a man.
That’s how I feel today…
Sunday, March 11, 2018 @ 4:51 pm
Your daughter sounds like a champ in more ways than one. I know it’s a moment where you feel you let her down and not only her, but yourself. But if she’s smiling then roll with it.
And as for speeding across town because you missed the starter gun. Well, I think you’ve learned a lesson there too, one that needed to be learned.
We can all learn from Fred Flinstone! 😀
Sunday, March 11, 2018 @ 6:35 pm
“Another rose I let slip away without a sniff.”
Oh, Floyd, sadly and regretfully, I know I’ve let my own children down when I only wanted to be there for them and to love them with all my heart. Those moments that slip away; the ones that can’t be recaptured.
Yet, there is forgiveness, and love, and understanding . . .
Stop and smell the roses, and the coffee!
Blessings, my friend!
Sunday, March 11, 2018 @ 11:00 pm
I am so sorry you had to miss your little girl’s event…I think we can all relate to that sinking feeling where you feel like Fred shrinking smaller and smaller. I suppose it is all a part of the human condition, and I’m thankful our kids are forgiving and love us in spite of our missteps and the things we regret. I’m so thankful you reposted this. God bless you, brother. Praying for you.
Monday, March 12, 2018 @ 1:27 pm
You may have let that rose slip away but you learned and she is in our corner because she knows you are in hers. But you make a good point about stopping to smell the roses.
Monday, March 12, 2018 @ 1:30 pm
Have no idea what happened to my comment Floyd. Maybe in your Flintstone folder from years ago? You may have missed her event but she obviously knows you are in her corner.
Wednesday, March 14, 2018 @ 7:46 am
Floyd, it’s instructive to dip back into your past (September 2010) and to hear your lament from that time. It’s nice, then, to assume you experience fewer occasions of that particular sort of lament today. May your past continue to instruct your present and future so there will be fewer roses you let slip by without a sniff (Good sentence, by the way).
Thursday, March 15, 2018 @ 5:15 pm
You are a bigger man for feeling so small. Regrets are many it seems as we forget the smell the roses. Your daughter forgave you, and held on to your words as you dropped her off early – – knowing that you were proud of her and loved her dearly. I loved this post Floyd, even if it was pulled from the archives.