....last night probably rates as the most useless I have ever felt.
As I sat on the couch, in my pjs, knitting and watching a movie, there was a car accident outside our house. Just as I reached the bedroom to grab some clothes, Lucy (2yrs old) began to cry. The noise of the crash had woken her. Tim was at work, and I couldn't leave her alone and upset in the house. So I sat cuddling her on her bed, while who knows what was happening out on the street just metres away. I don't even know if the people involved were hurt, by the time Lucy was ok for me to leave her, the emergency services had been and gone, and just the towtruck remained.
Thinking over it today, I'm not at all convinced that I made the right decision. I mean, I've never heard of anyone dying because they were alone and scared in their bedroom for half an hour.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Week One Is Nearly Over......
and it's been quite a letdown! Yet at the same time I have discovered something rather odd about myself.....
Earlier in the week, Tim was driving home from work late at night, and as he pulled up at a red traffic light, he saw a dog standing on the sidewalk on the opposite corner of the intersection. It was late, and dark, and cold, and he was just a few minutes from home, but he drove through the intersection and pulled over, got out of the car and went to find the dog. The dog was gone, nowhere to be seen. A lady in another car had stopped too (which is a little weird in itself, because how often do you seen one let alone two vehicles stopped to search for a lost dog?), so the two of them searched a few more minutes for the dog, and unable to find it they got back into their cars.
And it got me thinking, how relieved I was that Tim got the lost dog scenario and not me. And it's not because I don't like dogs (we have two of our own), it's just that I can't stand the thought of watchng a dog run out into traffic and get run over. If there is a chance of that happening, then I would rather not be around. In fact, I can't cope with the thought of ANY animal lost/hurt/distressed/hungry, and I feel much more comfortable with the thought of coming across a lost/hurt/distressed/hungry person. How weird is that?
Yet history tells me this is in fact how I am.
~ I can't watch TV programmes involving animals. You know the programmes, the ones where the animal protection officers go out into the countryside to rescue starving horses, or someone helps a duck with fishing line tangled around it's feet, or a half-dead runover cat is rushed to the local vet. Even seeng the ads for those programmes has me nearly in tears.
~ I spent half a night walking around Invercargill many years ago, looking for my lost dog. I was sobbing so hard, at the thought of her lost and cold in the dark, that I couldn't even call her name. I nearly throttled her when I returned home hours later to find her waiting for me at the front door.
~ Earlier this year I was out walking, with Lucy and her friend in the pram, when I heard what sounded like a child being hit by a car. I ran to the road ahead where cars had stopped, but the instant I saw a cat lying dead on the road, I stopped and turned away. Yet I had been expecting much worse, to see a child lying in that very spot.
It's weird, very weird. And I know that now I have written this, it is nothing less than certain that at some point during our Interruptable Year, I'll come across a situation where I need to help an animal. I'm having palpitations about it already. Here's hoping it's something small and manageable, like finding a lost dog as I'm driving past the dog pound. Knowing my luck, it'll be the aftermath of a truck driving through a herd of escaped cows in the middle of the night. Argh.
Earlier in the week, Tim was driving home from work late at night, and as he pulled up at a red traffic light, he saw a dog standing on the sidewalk on the opposite corner of the intersection. It was late, and dark, and cold, and he was just a few minutes from home, but he drove through the intersection and pulled over, got out of the car and went to find the dog. The dog was gone, nowhere to be seen. A lady in another car had stopped too (which is a little weird in itself, because how often do you seen one let alone two vehicles stopped to search for a lost dog?), so the two of them searched a few more minutes for the dog, and unable to find it they got back into their cars.
And it got me thinking, how relieved I was that Tim got the lost dog scenario and not me. And it's not because I don't like dogs (we have two of our own), it's just that I can't stand the thought of watchng a dog run out into traffic and get run over. If there is a chance of that happening, then I would rather not be around. In fact, I can't cope with the thought of ANY animal lost/hurt/distressed/hungry, and I feel much more comfortable with the thought of coming across a lost/hurt/distressed/hungry person. How weird is that?
Yet history tells me this is in fact how I am.
~ I can't watch TV programmes involving animals. You know the programmes, the ones where the animal protection officers go out into the countryside to rescue starving horses, or someone helps a duck with fishing line tangled around it's feet, or a half-dead runover cat is rushed to the local vet. Even seeng the ads for those programmes has me nearly in tears.
~ I spent half a night walking around Invercargill many years ago, looking for my lost dog. I was sobbing so hard, at the thought of her lost and cold in the dark, that I couldn't even call her name. I nearly throttled her when I returned home hours later to find her waiting for me at the front door.
~ Earlier this year I was out walking, with Lucy and her friend in the pram, when I heard what sounded like a child being hit by a car. I ran to the road ahead where cars had stopped, but the instant I saw a cat lying dead on the road, I stopped and turned away. Yet I had been expecting much worse, to see a child lying in that very spot.
It's weird, very weird. And I know that now I have written this, it is nothing less than certain that at some point during our Interruptable Year, I'll come across a situation where I need to help an animal. I'm having palpitations about it already. Here's hoping it's something small and manageable, like finding a lost dog as I'm driving past the dog pound. Knowing my luck, it'll be the aftermath of a truck driving through a herd of escaped cows in the middle of the night. Argh.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
The Push We Needed......
.....came today. A cold and rainy Saturday morning.
To cut a long story short, we came across some people in a mall carpark, whose 4WD had two slashed tyres. We initially passed by, smiling sympathetically at their situation. Before we had even reached our car 20metres away, we had decided that we should see if we could help in any way.
As it turned out, they had been unable to contact any family or friends, and were just deciding what they should do. We helped them out with a ride to and from a tyre workshop, and Tim helped put the temporary tyres on so they could at least drive home.
Helping out didn't cost us anything. We had our lunch a little later than we had planned, no big deal there.
Anyhow, after we got home, Tim took the dogs for a run out at the forest. While he was away, I got to thinking that we really ought to make ourselves Interruptable more often. We've talked about it so many times.
When Tim arrived home, I suggested this idea of An Interruptable Year to him, and he was all for it. We thought about writing down all the experiences that the year brings, and perhaps even one day publishing a book to encourage others to be Interruptable too. And then it hit us, the idea of getting totally with the times, by blogging all our experiences.
So this is it, our family blog. To see what the next 12 months bring as we go about our Interruptable Year. We don't really know what to expect. Will it be a complete letdown? A year spent changing tyres in the rain, helping old ladies across roads, and spending all our money on driving people all over the city doesn't really sound so appealing does it.
We are hoping for a fair bit more than that to be honest. We are hoping to see a change in ourselves, and to inspire a change in others. Ideally, everyone in the world will read our blog, and the idea of being Interruptable will become so popular that world peace will be nothing less than certain. We'll see in a year's time I guess.
To cut a long story short, we came across some people in a mall carpark, whose 4WD had two slashed tyres. We initially passed by, smiling sympathetically at their situation. Before we had even reached our car 20metres away, we had decided that we should see if we could help in any way.
As it turned out, they had been unable to contact any family or friends, and were just deciding what they should do. We helped them out with a ride to and from a tyre workshop, and Tim helped put the temporary tyres on so they could at least drive home.
Helping out didn't cost us anything. We had our lunch a little later than we had planned, no big deal there.
Anyhow, after we got home, Tim took the dogs for a run out at the forest. While he was away, I got to thinking that we really ought to make ourselves Interruptable more often. We've talked about it so many times.
When Tim arrived home, I suggested this idea of An Interruptable Year to him, and he was all for it. We thought about writing down all the experiences that the year brings, and perhaps even one day publishing a book to encourage others to be Interruptable too. And then it hit us, the idea of getting totally with the times, by blogging all our experiences.
So this is it, our family blog. To see what the next 12 months bring as we go about our Interruptable Year. We don't really know what to expect. Will it be a complete letdown? A year spent changing tyres in the rain, helping old ladies across roads, and spending all our money on driving people all over the city doesn't really sound so appealing does it.
We are hoping for a fair bit more than that to be honest. We are hoping to see a change in ourselves, and to inspire a change in others. Ideally, everyone in the world will read our blog, and the idea of being Interruptable will become so popular that world peace will be nothing less than certain. We'll see in a year's time I guess.
How This Blog Came To Be
Over the past five years, our lives have gradually become less about ourselves and more about others. Today we decided that we are going to take that further than we perhaps feel comfortable with, and commit to a year of being Interruptable.
This is an idea that we have been aware of for some time now, and whenever the topic arises, Tim and I both feel drawn to it. Being Interruptable. We've heard about it in various places (books/sermons/conversations with others/etc), and every now and then we have an Interruptable moment or day. Today we have committed, as a family, to an Interruptable year.
It's not about emergency situations, you know, the times when you NEED to offer assistance. Driving down a road and coming across a car on fire ~ you get out and offer your fire extinguisher without a second thought. Sitting watching TV late at night and you hear that unmistakeable sound of a car crash ~ you grab your shoes and cellphone and run to see how you can help without a second thought.
Our Interruptable Year is about those everyday situations, when you pass by a person or a situation, and your very first thought is "I should stop and see if I can be of any help". But then in less than a second your mind ticks over the endless list of reasons as to why you shouldn't stop
~ I'll be late for where I'm going
~ the frozens will defrost before I get them home to the freezer
~ it's lunchtime and I'm getting hungry
~ they look like they know what they are doing
~ I probably won't be able to help
~ someone else will do it
~ it's raining and I'll get really wet
~ I can't be bothered
and so you don't stop. You carry on your merry way, rushing off to wherever you 'need' to be.
The aim of our Interruptable Year, is to pay more attention to that first thought, to act on that first thought, and to deny the list of excuses.
To meet people we wouldn't have otherwise met.
To care about others, whether we know them or not.
To have completely random and unplanned experiences.
To be Interruptable in our everyday lives.
This is an idea that we have been aware of for some time now, and whenever the topic arises, Tim and I both feel drawn to it. Being Interruptable. We've heard about it in various places (books/sermons/conversations with others/etc), and every now and then we have an Interruptable moment or day. Today we have committed, as a family, to an Interruptable year.
It's not about emergency situations, you know, the times when you NEED to offer assistance. Driving down a road and coming across a car on fire ~ you get out and offer your fire extinguisher without a second thought. Sitting watching TV late at night and you hear that unmistakeable sound of a car crash ~ you grab your shoes and cellphone and run to see how you can help without a second thought.
Our Interruptable Year is about those everyday situations, when you pass by a person or a situation, and your very first thought is "I should stop and see if I can be of any help". But then in less than a second your mind ticks over the endless list of reasons as to why you shouldn't stop
~ I'll be late for where I'm going
~ the frozens will defrost before I get them home to the freezer
~ it's lunchtime and I'm getting hungry
~ they look like they know what they are doing
~ I probably won't be able to help
~ someone else will do it
~ it's raining and I'll get really wet
~ I can't be bothered
and so you don't stop. You carry on your merry way, rushing off to wherever you 'need' to be.
The aim of our Interruptable Year, is to pay more attention to that first thought, to act on that first thought, and to deny the list of excuses.
To meet people we wouldn't have otherwise met.
To care about others, whether we know them or not.
To have completely random and unplanned experiences.
To be Interruptable in our everyday lives.
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