The trees are coming into leaf. . . . Their greenness is a kind of grief.
We’re always in a rush. We have to get them ready for school. We have to get them off to bed. We have to get to the airport. We have to get back inside. We have to finish up dinner.
We are, as parents, it seems, perpetually short of time and always eager to get to the next thing. But it’s worth stopping and thinking today about what we are actually rushing to and what we are rushing away from. You’re wrapping up bedtime quickly—why? So you can sit and watch Netflix after they’re asleep? You cannot stand for them to be late to school—why? Fear of other parents judging you? You want to be to the airport how early? And for what reason? Because it recommends doing so on your ticket? When we rush, we should know that we are hurrying through life. We are zipping through their childhood—the exact thing that we will stop and miss at some point not long from now. How much of this will seem important then? How much would we give to get back a few of the minutes that right now we seem to want to be over as quickly as possible? So slow down. Savor it.
—Philip Larkin