24.9.09

This month's visiting teaching lesson:

I have to start this post by saying that I've always been blessed with amazing visiting teaching companions who teach me so much about so many different things. I met my current companion in the bathroom at church just after we moved here. She told me right up front that she hadn't been visiting teaching in over four years. She had a good excuse though- she's a mother of triplets, plus three other kids. I don't know how I got to be the lucky one who was assigned to her when visiting teaching became a possibility in her life again, but we have had a lot of fun together over the past four years (and nobody had better try to break us up!).

This morning we had an appointment to visit one of our sisters. Cindy was coming from a physical therapy appointment at the other end of town. I dropped the boys off at her place so they could play with her kids while her husband worked from home, then drove to meet her at Jackie's. Sometime after I arrived (as I was basking in the glow of actually having gotten there first even though I was 20 minutes late!), the phone rang. It was Cindy, and she had just gotten out of her appointment and was not going to make it in time. I heard through the receiver, "So enjoy your visit with Katie!" and then goodbye and that was it. Jackie and I had a great visit, and then I went to pick my kids up at Cindy's, where she was just arriving home. I couldn't help but notice how un-bothered she was that she had missed the appointment. I knew that if I had been in her position I would have berated myself for HALF THE DAY. But not Cindy- her appointment had run late, and she seemed to understand that it was physically impossible for her to be in two places at once, so she called to let it be known and left it at that. And it really wasn't a big deal at all! Like I said, we had a great visit without her and all was well. The sky didn't fall, we didn't say terrible things about her behind her back, and the Church is apparently still functioning. So that was my visiting teaching lesson this month: you can't be in two places at once, life goes on even when you can't make it, and there's no need to beat yourself up over little things that are just not your fault. Beautiful.

*Cindy- How can it be that I have not a single picture of us to go with this post!?

4 comments:

Elise said...

Thank you for such beautiful, healthful thoughts. I'm another who can use that wisdom!

Lindsay said...

Great thoughts. It's hard for me to not let the little things bother me...so thanks for the reminder!

Cindy said...

Well...perhaps it's a function of getting this old, and realizing that there's a limit to what I can control. Or perhaps it was because I was brain dead from the abuse at physical therapy!

BTW--I consider myself lucky to vt with you as well!

Laura said...

What a great lesson! That is so neat about Marley and Eva's bday!! They have a great family!!! And YES you should watch Dirty Dancing again, and again and again!!! goodluck with your teeth!