I try to read a novel a week and there is always one line where I feel instant and total connection. The line jumps off the page, and I’ll read it a dozen times, write it down, or take a photo of it. It will linger in my mind and acts like a mentor guiding me to be a better person.

Today’s line came from Susan Meissner’s, A Fall of Marigolds, when one of her character said, “Hurried people miss many things. They only see what is right on the top.”

I used to be a hurried person; it’s as if motherhood sent (via express delivery) a new persona who was always under the clock racing away to complete as many tasks in a day. I have been a mother for a decade and a half and have been operating at this speed throughout my children’s lives.

Last year, I stopped. I hit the brakes and decided instead of filling every minute with mundane tasks, I’d stand still. Be mute and allow my children to fill it with their needs, their conversation, their stories. Time is being fulfilled differently. There is more substance to my days, and I feel like I’m more present in their life instead of being on the surface just fulfilling tasks.

I’m listening not just hearing. I have more interesting conversations and learn more about their lives. I have the time to dig in to what they are really trying to say instead of solving everything with the Band-Aid method. Of course my blinds are dusty and the projects pile up, but my heart feels more bursts of love and joy, and I’m know I’m being a better mom by slowing down.