Reflections On Being Too Busy

Being busy has become cliche'. Ask anyone how they're doing, 9 of 10 will say "I've been busy, man. Real busy." I talk to people about their schedules and a realize that I'm not nearly as busy as everyone else. My kids never played Little League or any other pee-wee sports. Chris played football for 3 years and decided to get serious about playing guitar. The girls participated in gymnastics and dance for a few years. But, more recently they've settle into being in the band at their school. Things can get hectic at times, but in the course of a week there's not usually a lot of extra places to be and lots of things to do. Still, somehow I've been too busy.

My family and I don't do much outside of our jobs. We might have a get-together with folks outside of work every now and then. We know there are people who we work with who are a lot more busy outside of the workplace than we are. The only other activities we really get into have to do with our church. We play for church services, outreach events and anything else that might come down the pike. We also have a lot of friends at our church. Some of you may have seen my post over the weekend about our little church. Most of our friends are there and most of our time is spent there. In the vast configuration of things however, it's really not THAT much. But still we've been too busy.

You might wonder why I say that we've been too busy?

This past Saturday, there was an estate sale at a house across the street and down 4 houses from ours. A little old lady lived in that house since we moved in the neighborhood. She likely had lived there long before we ever moved to the neighborhood. From what I could tell, she was really sweet. I would see her every now and then going out to get her mail. She would wave and smile. I can't count how many times that happened. We've lived in this same house 6 1/2 years and not once did I ever introduce myself to that lady. I was always going somewhere. I was too busy.

Over the past few months I noticed that I hadn't seen that lady check her mail. I hadn't seen her at all outside of her house for as long as I can remember - maybe for all of 2009. Her yard was always in good shape. It didn't appear that no one lived there. I just didn't see her. Then, all of a sudden, there's this nondescript sign in her yard "estate sale."

Over the course of the day, on Saturday, people came and went and before dark someone loaded up a trailer with what could have been the entire dining room set. No sign of the little lady. She was gone. Where? I have no idea.

I've driven by that house at least 4-6 times since Saturday and when I do, I feel such a sadness. Something is missing...that little lady is gone - and I have no idea who she was. More importantly, I never knew who she was because I was just too busy to find out who she was. That, to me, is the saddest thing of all.