Lately, I’ve been consumed with debt stuff. Not consumed in a terrible, depressing sort of way but rather it’s been at the front of my mind in a productive but slightly obsessive way.
At work and at home, my mind has been often been wandering, thinking about ways that I can save money, ways that I can earn money, anything really to keep bringing those numbers down. The lack of time factor has been bugging me and I keep wishing for more hours in the day so that I can focus on tackling the debt stuff.
This really has kept my thoughts busy of late and I don’t mind that, although at times I think my head will explode with all the thoughts that are swimming around in it.
The other day though, something happened that halted my all-consuming thoughts about money matters.
An incident happened which made me remember what I’m grateful for in my life
My little girl and I were taking our dog for a walk and as it’s been so hot here in England lately (if you can believe that), we decided to take him for a dip in the nearby river. We’ve done this most evenings for the last couple of weeks. My daughter who is nearly three years old wanted to take her balance bike with her as usual and so off we went.
We walked our normal route down to the little jetty, with my little girl just behind me on her bike. Usually, she gets off her bike at the top of the jetty and we walk down to the river holding hands. We never go right down to the water as I’m always afraid of her falling in. But before I could even shout out her name (or think a conscious thought at all), she whizzed past me on her bike, faster than I’d ever seen her go before, straight down the jetty. She hit the water whilst on the bike causing an almighty splash before somersaulting head first into the river.
Balance bikes are designed to help children learn to ride a bike without pedals or stabilisers. Great idea! Except that they don’t have pedals or brakes. So my little angel couldn’t stop herself and it happened so fast that I couldn’t stop her either. She can’t swim even a stoke!
She ended up about three metres into the river. It’s probably not that deep there but further out, it certainly is deep as boats travel this river every day. It’s also fast flowing as it leads to a large weir.
I jumped in there after her but slipped on the jetty so I went straight under myself. By the time I grabbed her foot which was the closest part of her that I could reach, she was face down and starting to sink into the murky waters.
I managed to regain my balance and grasped her arm at that point to pull her above the water and back onto the jetty. Luckily, my little girl was fine apart from the shock and she was more concerned about the fact that her clothes were wet through. The only dry one was the dog who had stood on the bank out of the way! We sat there on the bank for a good 10 minutes to try to calm ourselves down before walking home drenched.
Amazingly, my phone and house key which were in one of my pockets survived the whole thing. The Blackberry is such a good robust phone!
On a more serious note, it was honestly the most frightening thing that’s ever happened to me in my life so far, particularly as I was on my own, with nobody else around us and my hubby was working away to make matters worse. If anything happened to my daughter, I don’t know what I would do.
She is my life, she is the most important thing to me and what I live for. Everything I do is for her, including being a little obsessive about tackling our debt situation, because I want to make sure that she won’t ever be affected by debt and I want to educate her to not make the same mistakes that we did.
It did give me a little perspective
Sometimes, what we’re passionate about such as work, careers, making money or paying off debts can seem like the most important things in the world. Yeah – tackling the debt stuff is very important for our family if we want a better life for ourselves and our child but we mustn’t lose sight of what is really important in our lives. Like family, friends and the times we spend with our loved ones. Money (or lack of it) will always be there tomorrow.
Note to self – I must make sure we include a budget for swimming lessons in the near future. 🙂
Has anything happened in your life to make you sit back and gain a little perspective?
Related posts:
- How can we make sure our children don’t get into debt?
- Do you wear the pants in your relationship with money?
- Our story
25 Comments
Oh. my. God! The more I was reading, the more terrified I was getting. See, I can’t swim!!! What would I have done? I don’t even want to think what could have happened, had this happened to me! I think you have coped amazingly well!
I am so glad you are both fine! Sending lots of hugs your way! xo
Eva @ Girl Counting Pennies recently posted…My Recent Travel Adventures – Part One
Thanks Eva! 🙂 We’re doing fine now, but I am nervous about the river! We’re steering clear of it for a while I think! x
Oh my! How frightening!
Perspective is good thing, but at that cost and level of fear, I’m sure you’d rather have done without.
Yes indeed! I definitely would rather not have experienced that. It just goes to show how easily and quickly accidents can happen. 🙁
Oh my gosh. How terrifying! I am so glad yall are ok!
Thanks so much Cat! We are doing fine now thanks although my little girl keeps talking about what happened! I really appreciate you stopping by!
Having children is terrifying, I think. There are many things that have caused me to gain some perspective in terms of my children.
Glad everything turned out okay!
Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted…Overcoming Laziness: How I’m Cutting Costs in August
Thanks Holly. 🙂 Being a parent is pretty scary at the best of times isn’t it! Let alone when something happens to your little ones.
I’ve become somewhat obsessed with paying off my debt as well. I think about it ALL the time. I’m so happy this situation had a happy ending. You nailed it when you said money (or lack of it) will always be there tomorrow. There are more important things in life!
Thanks GMD! I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who is a little obsessed with paying off debt. Money makes the world go around I guess but at the end of the day, it’s not the be all and end all. 🙂
So glad you both are fine! Yes, sometimes we need to take a step back and think about what really matters. It’s too easy to let certain things consume us.
Connie @ Savvy With Saving recently posted…How Important Is Work Life Balance?
Thanks Connie for stopping by! I used to let work consume me – before I had my daughter that is. I spent so many years letting it take over my life (and I didn’t even like my job!)
What a scary story! I’m glad everything was OK! I’ve had a lot of moments that have given me perspective. That’s why daily gratitude is important because those big perspective moments fade away, and it’s easy to go back into the same thought patterns.
Budget and the Beach recently posted…First World Problems
I totally agree, daily gratitude is really important as we can easily forget just how much the real things in our lives matter.
So glad you and your little one are fine. And amazed that she wasn’t scared just bothered by being wet. Kids can surprise us with their resilience, sometimes!
Perspective definitely feels essential when times get tough or unexpected complications arise. Life isn’t meant to be perfect, and sometimes we need to remember that.
Mrs PoP @ Planting Our Pennies recently posted…Home Value Update – How To Use Market Comps
I know! Kids are so resilient aren’t they. When my little girl is older and understands, I will have to tell her the whole story about how she nearly gave me a heart attack!
I can imagine how scary that experience must have been for you. Thank God everyone was okay and good on you for acting quickly.
It’s healthy to get that perspective…to remember what really matters. Thanks for the illustration.
Done by Forty recently posted…Fantasy Football Trades & Behavioral Economics
Thanks so much! 🙂 I hope I never have to gain perspective in that way again lol! I’m thanking my lucky stars things turned out the way they did.
It is really scary as i was reading and glad to know that you all are fine now. have a good weekend dear
Rita P @ Digital Spikes recently posted…Seven habits of highly debt free people
Thanks Rita! We are both doing well. 🙂 Have a great weekend too!
I am glad to hear that everything is ok. Whilst it is important to sort out our financial issues, debt becomes so insignificant when compared to family and friends and how precious they are to us.
Thanks Rob. 🙂 It’s easy to get consumed by day to day life, money worries and other problems isn’t it? From time to time, it’s worth taking a step back and remembering what’s truly important to us.
I was much like you with constantly thinking about getting out of debt and being able to have more stable finances. I wanted to be debt free so we could enjoy more fun things together as a family. I spent way more hours than necessary thinking and obsessing about it and have filled notebooks with facts and figures about possible outcomes if we did this or that. Last year on Valentines Day 2013 my husband was in a serious car accident and had to be flown to a trauma hospital in a major city. (We are from a very small town) I went to be with him and had to be away from our two children for 12 days while he was hospitalized. It was scary and lonely being there away from our kids and not knowing how long his recovery would be. It definitely made me let go of the control I thought I had to have over our finances. It reminded me there are much more important things to take care of in this life. He was off work for 4 1/2 months and although we are on one income we made it by the grace of God and a wonderful support system. After it was all over I still thought about and planned our finances with our goals in mind but I also made the decision to turn that part of my mind off for a while and just be there and be happy.
Thanks Chasity for commenting and sharing your story. I’m so glad that your husband and children are ok. When something like that happens, it really does make you sit up and take notice of what is important. Getting finances in order is important but spending and enjoying quality time with our loved ones definitely takes the top spot in terms of priorities! I hope you have a peaceful Valentine’s Day in 2014. 🙂