I cleaned my shirt today with a sponge. Merritt goobers on my shoulders, just like a little baby. As I was heading out the door for an evening meeting I noticed the drool. Moms with little babies have this crusty stuff on their shirts all the time. I don’t think of myself as a mom with a little baby. No leaking breasts or twenty pounds of baby fat, so probably no drool either. Not wanting to run upstairs to change my shirt, I grabbed the kitchen sponge and wiped. The whole meeting I smelled like onions.

My quick fix wasn’t the best solution. I was self-conscious of my garbage disposal odor. I’m the queen of the quick fix. JP didn’t have a belt to wear to his grandparents’ 50th weddings anniversary party; my woven unisex belt was slung around his waist as we jumped in the car. Paige needed leg warmers for an 80’s themed party; her old knee socks were cut off at the ankles. Guests were arriving in a half hour and the kitchen table looked drab; a potted mum from outside was dumped into a cache pot. Yep, the quick fix is my friend.

But hasty decisions don’t work for the big stuff. Relationships, faith, finances and how to get rid of fleas on the cat, are all relatively weighty topics. The hurried pace that helps me maneuver through the activities of four children doesn’t cut it when one of them is sad about a fallout with a friend or questioning the fairness of a teacher’s decision.

Our marriage has seen a bunch of spot cleanings lately. A school open house each week in September, soccer practices and evening meetings have led John and me to the 11:00 catch up while passing each other in the kitchen. Instead of sitting on the deck for an hour, we speak in thirty second exchanges of information. After about a month of this behavior, one of us usually snaps. I snapped last night.

Forget the spot clean. We need a good long soak in the pre-treating bucket. We’ve made a date for Saturday and plan to slowly catch up over dinner. Recognizing when to speed through life and when to slow down is a prize. Claim it and you’ll savor the day. Let it go and you’ll smell like onions all night.