How Brad Paisley Made Me Take a Pause Before Thanksgiving

I was on the way home from my daily commute from Washington, D.C. and was dealing with the usual stresses of life: my overflowing work load, a fire drill during work  and traffic coming home, so I decided to shuffle through my iPod.  My random shuffle brought up Brad Paisley and "Time Well Wasted", which got me thinking about how busy our lives are, how we spend our time and the fact that we should stop, take pause and really savor what we have.

Brad Paisley confesses in the song that he counts the time fishing with his dad or lazing on the couch with his wife watching movies as memories in the making, and that he wouldn't trade overtime money or regrets about daily stuff that should have been done instead. He says he counts this all as time well wasted.

I am thinking back on a year of blessings and sorrow for myself, my family and my community.  We have welcomed new life into our year and seen too many friends and family pass on while trudging through a terrible economy that has certainly challenged many of us. We have seen friends lose their houses, their jobs and decline in health. I lost my beloved grandmother this year as well. Many of us are underwater in the homes that we have and worry for our jobs and our future.

I can't help feel that the challenges of the economy and having to tighten our belts a little can help bring us back to a simpler time when, without the luxury of frivolity, we are more present and spend more time with our kids and more time with our family. I find that in the last year, I take the time to welcome a new neighbor, talk to the kids playing outside and revel in a pink sunset against the fall foilage.

I think we should take pause more often and I am certainly going to try. And in the meantime, if you are lucky enough to have your parents and grandparents still with you, ask for a famly recipe that you can make and share with your children this year. Call a friend that you haven't talked to in a while just to say I am thinking of you. Don't email or text, I mean actually pick up the phone and call them.

Like Brad says "This world can spin too fast if you let and there's always one more thing to do"...  So, even just for Thanksgiving let things pile up, don't worry if the house is not perfect – enjoy your friends and family.

If you need a little encouragement, you can download the song on iTunes or pull out the CD.  I will admit, I listened to the song twice on the way home....

Happy Thanksgiving!