i got a reminder to practice what i preach from the 3 year old yesterday evening.
It had been a glorious Wellington day which we had spent catching up with friends in Ngaio,of course time had run away with us and we left a lot later than i had intended to. MissK had missed her day sleep and was looking exhausted so i decided to walk home so that she could have a snooze in the pushchair.
It was about 5:30pm when we reached Karori Mall to pick up some groceries for dinner,and still another 30 mins from there to home. I had $16 in my pocket to feed the family until Friday (financial stress:the burden of being a grown up!), which i managed to squeeze 500g of mince,a kilo of bananas,and a jar of honey out of.
As we left the Mall,dusk was gathering and all i could think (and say) was 'we have to hurry,its almost 6pm (dinner time at our house as missK is in bed around 7-7:30pm) and we're not even home yet.hurry hurry hurry'

MissK on the other hand,didnt want to hurry.She had asked that morning to wear her favourite party dress out for the day and she was THRILLED to be out and about as it was growing dark. She was flouncing along,with a banana in one hand,kicking her knees up as high as they would go with every step so that the dress would whirl about as she walked (or rather,skipped,which she has just learned to do at kindy and is very pleased about).
She was marvelling at the clouds as the sky turned pink and then deep blue and she was chattering about how lucky we were to be on this night time adventure together.
i stopped for a moment to watch her and thought about living in the present,really living in the present and letting the future take care of itself.Lets face it,we would eat at some point,maybe later than planned but it would happen.
So i stopped telling her to hurry and trying to pull her along as fast as her little legs would carry her and started looking at the amazing colours that the sky was turning. I told her how wonderfully she was skipping and her face lit up and she kicked her heels up even higher.I pretended the empty pram was an out of control racecar (complete with zooming noises) and we skipped/careened down the footpath- her twirling and whirling to her hearts content and me,forgetting about being and adult for a while and seeing the world through different eyes than i had 10 mins ago, dodging harassed pedestrians,mostly in rowdy laughter the whole way home.
We ate late,she went to bed half an hour late,and is still asleep now (8:58am) and i feel like I've had a spa treatment for my soul.

The child sleeping as we made our way down Churchill Drive in her flouncy whirly twirly party dress