Life is a highway and other lessons

How children can show you the goodness in everything around you, if you choose to see it.

As Mother’s Day approaches I can’t help but share this story with my fellow parents.

This story is meant to encourage you to stop you where you are, look, and listen to everything around you. Take it all in and surrender to the goodness.

I had a miserable weekend a few weeks back. Actually, I chose to let one specific event override all the other wonderful things that were taking place all around me.

You see, even when we choose to hang on to gloom, our lives and everyone in it, go on. They do their ‘thing’ oblivious to our moods.

My ‘gloomies’ continued intermittently for three days. Can you imagine? A hike at Lynde Shores, dance class, a trip to the library, McDonald’s and even a visit from my mother wasn’t enough to snap me out of this funk I chose to be in. It wasn’t until Monday, after a full day’s work, that the universe (or God, depending on your perspective) decided to let me in on a little secret. It said: ‘Relax. Life is too short, stop wallowing, there is goodness and wonder all around you.’

We got a CD collection from McDonald’s featuring kids singing contemporary songs. Tom Cochran’s Life is a Highway was one of them. I put the CD on and turned the music up...way up.

Life’s like a road that you travel on,
When there’s one day here and the next day gone,
Sometimes you bend and sometimes you stand,
Sometimes you turn your head to the wind,
There’s a world outside every darkened door,
Where blues won’t haunt you anymore,
Where brave are free and lovers soar,
Come ride with me to the distant shore,
We won’t hesitate,
Break down the garden’s gate,
There’s not much time left today...

Life is a highway,
I’m gonna ride it all night long..If you’re going my way,
I’m gonna drive it all night long....

Now my kids know the song from the Disney movie Cars...but as I looked in the rear-view mirror I see my son, singing at the top of his lungs, window down, wind running through his blond hair and he is happy. In fact, both of my children were happy, singing to their heart’s content. And for a parent, what could be more gratifying?

Here I was wallowing and there they were without a care in the world, asking Mommy to play it again: ‘We love that song!’ they both chimed. (That song was followed by Fergie’s Big Girls Don’t Cry... but I did anyway. )

It was a good lesson for me that day.

Children remind us every single day that life is too short. They remind us to stay curious and full of wonder, to hope for the best, and see the goodness in everything. The goodness I have overlooked.

While at Lynde Shores on a damp day we walked along the pier through the marsh to see one white swan among all of the geese. Swans are such beautiful creatures — I have not seen one in a long time. The kids and I could only marvel at her long neck. And my daughter asked me if this was Swan Lake? I said, smiling ‘I guess you could think of it like that.’

Another thing I missed that weekend was my mother taking one room that I had neglected for quite some time and completely organizing it for me. Did I show my gratitude? Not really, not enough. But I will. There were many lessons that rainy weekend.

You see here’s where it’s at: Being a single parent is a huge job. Every day you are called upon to be a mother and a father to your child(ren) and it can often seem overwhelming. We can often get caught up in the little things until someone reveals the truth to you...

My children inadvertently showed me that life really is a highway. We can choose to stay on it, rise above the speed bumps and enjoy the ride, we can pull over to the shoulder when we need a rest or to ask for directions, or we can turn the music up full blast and sing along.

Whatever we do, it is our choice — and wouldn’t we all rather choose to feel good?