Earlier this

week, we were running late for school. The school has a system of dropping off your kids. If I'm lucky there are enough cars in front of mine that we end up at the spot closest to Toki's route to class. It works out great when we're running late or we're having wet weather. On occasion, I'm at the front of the line and have to pull all the way around the driveway, dropping off Toki at the farthest spot from his class and adding a few extra minutes to his walk/run to class. He DISLIKES being late for anything. So stopping at the right spot along the sidewalk can be really important sometimes.

Anyhow, during this particular morning we were running late.....no one was behind me when I pulled up to the school.......so I stopped at that perfect spot. If Toki hops out quickly, he can make it to class on time, and I can leave before any other latecomers pile up behind me.

During this whole time, the morning traffic lady is waving me to pull forward. I telepathically send her a message "there's no one behind me and we're running behind."

Another thing Toki DISLIKES.......when mommy doesn't pay attention to those traffic people and embarrasses him to no end.

Before he left he said something that hit to the core....

"Mom, I wish you would follow the rules."

And so I do what I always do when something like this happens. I play what happened over and over again in my mind. I wonder what has happened in my past to make me think it's o.k. to take short cuts sometimes. I analyze what else in my life I've been short cutting or how else I've been breaking the rules. How is my mediocre example affecting my family and I?

I told Toki he was right and that from now on I'll follow the rules. I'm so glad he spoke up.