When I was in college, I loved driving in my Pontiac Sunbird convertible down a winding road, top down, listening to Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” at a louder than necessary volume. I can still picture my hair blowing in the wind as I listened to the lyrics:
“You got a fast car / I want a ticket to anywhere / Maybe we make a deal / Maybe together we can get somewhere.”
That was then though, and this is now. Years later (too many to note), I’m now a mom of four in suburbia, who drives a minivan (and isn’t afraid to admit that while it may not be the most fashionable vehicle - I LOVE IT – complete with its plethora of cupholders, and all the room it has for my brood and their stuff). These days, I don’t start working until my three oldest children are safely at school. Often, when I park at my daughter’s Kindergarten, I have my baby in tow. After lifting the infant car-seat out (with baby in it, sigh), getting the stroller attachment, my iPhone, 5 year old and her backpack that’s slightly bigger, and perhaps heavier, than she is, off we go in a parking lot full of moms, babysitters, dads or grandparents, all anxious to get someplace.
I hate that rushing and fast cars are fixtures in many a school parking lot. I get that many of us have jobs that we don’t want to be late to. I get that many of us have obligations we don’t take lightly. And, I get that many stay-at-home or working from home moms only have 2 or 3 or 5 hours to themselves, and have a list of things to do that could easily take that long - grocery shopping to getting the oil changed, a doctor appointment to picking up dry cleaning, or going to the post office or buying another birthday present, having a prescription refilled, doing another load of laundry. And, of course no one ought to challenge how one spends their time.
A quick glance at the way so many moms dress in my daughter’s school parking lot reveals that many are rushing out of the parking lot to squeeze in some exercise – whether that’s a quick run, or getting to a yoga, pilates or barre class that starts in five minutes, or heading to the gym to hop on the elliptical machine or do weights. I challenge none of that. In fact, as a proponent of “Positive Selfishness,” I laud these moms and the lessons they are teaching their young children about the importance of staying fit and healthy.
Where I frown however, is in the way some moms rush out of the parking lot, forgetting the danger involved with backing up any vehicle, especially a minivan or SUV. A rear camera can’t always see a stroller that a mom is pushing in front of her, as she weaves her way through the arsenal of Honda Odyssey’s, Pilots, Yukons and Escalades.
And, amid the myriad of bumper stickers, I see the look of rushing on so many morning faces. It’s worrying to say the least. Caught up in the moment, does anyone recognize that rushing can lead to poor choices, less critical thinking and less thinking about the blind spots? I know that the lives we lead aren’t going to get less hectic anytime soon, and I know how important it is to be on time (although as my friends & family will tell you, I’m habitually 4-6 minutes late). I also know that walking through the parking lots of this suburban school, like the city schools near and far, are our future – toddlers, pre-schoolers, Kindergartners, grade schoolers. Each one precious, all with a story to tell, and all equally unsuspecting of a mom or dad or grandparent or babysitter driving a Fast Car.
