Since moving to Mexico, I have had to become a morning person…something that I am naturally not. You see my children are picked up by their bus at 6:40AM. YES, you read that right…6:40AM! Now, if you’ve ever had to wake little people up that early before, you know it’s like opening Pandora’s Box and allowing Devil’s spawn to exit. Well, I get to do it every day. It sucks. My alarm goes off at 5:45AM, and I pretty much bolt out of bed because I’m scared I’ll fall back to sleep and the bus will come and go…without my kids on it.
My older daughter is my sleepyhead. It’s like waking the dead. I’ve tried to wake her every way imaginable, but it’s one of my most dreaded moments of the day. Let’s just say that she and I are not marching to the beat of the same drummer. I guess I’ve known this for some time, but I’m just now realizing how different our personalities are…even though we are extremely similar in other ways.
I view our relationship kind of like the relationship I’m currently having with Mexico City. In a lot of ways Mexico City is a lot like home, and when I say home, I mean the US (in general). There’s Costco, Wal-Mart, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, and such…and that’s great. I love having familiar places and things that comfort me at a stone’s throw. But, the city also moves at a different pace. Typically the pace is slow or slower. A lot of it has to do with the insane amount of traffic here…and there isn’t much you can do about that, but it also has to do with the city’s culture.
For instance, if you are going to a party and the invitation states 7PM…does it really mean 7:30PM or 9:00PM? I went to the doctor the other day, and I was on time for the appointment…unfortunately the doctor was not even physically in the office, and didn’t show up for 30 minutes…then he had to see the patient that had an appointment before me. Unless you’re performing emergency surgery or delivering a baby, you should be in the office when you have patients scheduled!
The other morning my husband was trying to hurry Elyse out the door, and he told her that she didn’t have a “Sense of Urgency”. Not that she knows what the hell that is, but it is completely true. And, it dawned on me that Mexico City and my daughter are both lacking a “Sense of Urgency”. It’s not either of their faults; it’s just the way they are wound. You can’t change them because it’s not possible. You’ve got to work with their nuances, learn to be patient, and try to keep it all together without letting them see you sweat.
There’s no sense in being mad at them for the way they are. You’ve just got to roll with the punches, and love and accept them for whom and what they are. It might not always be easy, and sometimes you’re going to have to take a break from each other…but in the end the reward of getting to be part of their slice of the world is all the reward you could ask for.