No Van is an Island

I am a woman, mother, teacher, and wife. As such, I am also a multi - tasker. I am often doing many things at the same time. One of my favorite gifts from my husband is my phone head set. I get to TALK on the phone (Chatty Cathy) AND dust, sweep, do dishes, cook dinner, or even pay bills. It is great!

One of the only places I do not like to multi - task is the car. I don't often talk on the phone in the car. I don't text. (I am not sure of those who do, HOW they do that?) I just need to drive and focus on driving. You need to remember, I do not have the greatest sense of direction and to this day I still need to think about where I am going and why. If I go on auto pilot, I am usually auto piloting to gymnastics when I NEED to be going to karate.

The blessing and curse of Delaware is that you can't really get lost, stay on any road long enough and you will come to another road you know. (in which case I would turn the the wrong direction) The curse is that so many roads connect there is often 7 different ways to get somewhere. So you can pick one way and take 15 extra minutes to get there as you morph your choice of path on the way.

My other problem in the car is that it is sometimes relaxing to focus on the driving. You may be surprised at what children talk about. When my daughter starts discussing who ate what at lunch, how gross it was, who trade who for what treat. I will admit I start to tune out. Inevitably comes a question and I am doomed. "Ummm," I say, "can you repeat that?" I can sometimes cop out with the, " I'm sorry honey, I was listening to that story on NPR." During this time on my own as temporary single parent I spend a lot of time in the car. I never knew how it would become a island of single task escape. I think I will continue to relish it as I can.