Hurry Up - We're Late!!

A few days ago, my friend, Mindy, blogged about her thoughts on being late. To read what she had to say, click here. I responded with a very long comment. Here were some of my own thoughts.

"Interesting you would post this! I was just late yesterday to a birthday party, and it caused me great stress along the way. (Be sure to scroll down to the next post to see pictures of a very fun and unique party!) I do agree with your statement. I was raised in a family that was also right on time or a little bit early. It's definitely easier to hold to that conviction when you have only yourself to worry about. After I got married, things got slightly more complicated, but we were still on time. Then, we had kids! As a mom, being on time is definitely a challenge! It seems that no matter how organized and efficient I am, something always comes up. You wouldn't believe how many times I've gotten everyone in the car, and then have to come back in because the baby just pooped in their diaper or spit up all over the car seat and themselves. Or when you're potty training and suddenly, they have to go potty "right now," but they don't quite make it and we have to go change... Anyway, you get the idea. Yesterday for the party, we were on schedule and all was well. We had rushed to get to that point, but we were O.K. On the way, I was going to stop at Wendy's and grab burgers for everyone to eat in the car. Well, wouldn't you know, the drive-thru was closed and the line inside was incredibly long! We got back in the car, having wasted 5 minutes. Down the road a bit, I stopped at Dairy Queen. Would you believe, there was a truck sitting in front of the ordering console, with all their doors open and the hood up! What?! Now, if this had been just me, I would have simply gone to the party. But, my young children were very hungry by now. So, I raced to the other side of the parking lot to Starbucks. I picked up banana bread slices for everyone and smoothies. Finally, we were headed to the party. (There is a reason for this story - stay with me!) As we were driving, poor Sky picked up his smoothie, by the lid, spilling it all over his Peter Pan costume and his car seat. I freaked and started yelling. Sky was crying, Sara then started screaming. We got to the house and I roughly cleaned up my child, scolding him the whole time. Once I finally calmed down, I noticed he wasn't having any fun at the party. His little face was so crest-fallen. All because Mommy got extremely stressed out about being 10 minutes late and took it out on him. I apologized, with hugs and kisses and the rest of the party went great. I've done that so many times with my kids. Being on time shows definitely shows respect for other people, but being angry with my family because something out of my control made me late, is not acceptable. So, I learned a few lessons yesterday... And your post was a good reminder to keep trying each time to be as organized and on time as possible."

What about you? How do you feel about being late? What lessons have you learned in this area of your life?