“You don’t get to a
place by constantly moving, even if your journey is only one of sitting still
and waiting. Every once in a while you have to stop in your tracks and admire
the view, a small cloud and a tree outside your window. You have to see what
you did not see before. And then you have to sleep.”
– Rachel Joyce, The Love Song
of Miss Queenie Hennessy
Many times in the last weeks I have been stopped in my
tracks and have been forced to take advantage of my situation and admire the
view. Even in the midst of these incidents I have somehow managed to be
thankful for the forced pause.
One particular incident happened a few weeks ago. With the
help of my best favorite, I loaded up handmade sangria and handmade corn hole boards into my backseat. With one pup in the
back with the handmade goods, one pup on my lap, and my best favorite at the
wheel we backed out of the driveway. Driving slowly so as not to shift any of
the precious cargo or spill the sangria we crept out of the neighborhood. Once
on one of main streets we picked up the pace some and not long after we did we
heard a noise that sounded like a piece of the car detaching itself from
underneath. Soon we were on the highway and with no hiccups to the
maneuverability of the car we thought no more of the previous mentioned sound.
Fast forward to the pups being dropped off at Grandma and
Grandpa’s house and preparing to leave for a wedding for which the sangria and
corn hole boards were made. I looked for my phone in the car and realized it was
not there. Frantically, I decided to drive back home to look for it. Again,
driving slowly because the sangria is still in my car, I made the trip back
home. I ran inside and looked in my usual places for my phone and after not
finding it decided that I did not have time to be paranoid and look for it
because I did not want to be late for the wedding. Hastily, I jumped back in
the car and it was as I backed out of the driveway that my stomach sunk as I
remembered the strange sound we heard as we picked up speed on the main road about
a half an hour prior. At that moment I knew that my phone was, in fact, not in
my possession.
As I retraced the route out of the neighborhood I tried to
remember the exact location that we heard the noise. I drove slowly once on the
main road and looked back and forth scouting for something that looked
familiar. I was approaching a point where I thought I had most certainly gone
too far past finding my phone when suddenly there was a colorful E.T. phone
case staring up at me.
With no shoulder, I pulled as far to the side of the road as
I could, pushed my flashers on, waited for traffic to pass, opened my door, and
started running. Mind you I do not ever run, for anything. Yet there I was
dressed ready for a wedding and running down the middle of a busy street with
my curls flapping in their ponytail. Full of adrenaline but out of breath I
reached down for my phone and suddenly had all the peace of mind I could have
hoped for considering the situation. Although I would clearly need a new phone,
it was in my possession again and not in anyone else’s. My identity, my
finances, my everything was safe. I was safe.
With shattered phone in hand my best favorite and I finally
arrived at the wedding, with about 5 minutes to spare. My phone was left behind
in the car as it was obviously useless to me at that point. Although strange to
not have it, I was able to watch my friend get married in her beautiful
backyard wedding with no camera phone to obstruct my view.
The days that followed had me freer than previous times as I
had no phone to check and get distracted with. Not having that distraction
provided me an opportunity to look at my own habits, routines, and priorities
differently. Although I would like to say that I have maintained some of the
habits formed while without a phone, life indeed does go on, appointments have
to be scheduled, emails need replying, and pictures must be taken. I am,
however, extremely mindful of the times I do not take full advantage of
admiring the views around me especially now that I have a new phone.
I am looking for things I did not see before.
And then I will sleep.
