DEADLINES VS. KITTENS

I was in the middle of a very productive work session in my home office this afternoon when four little kids barged in. “You have to come to help us save one of the kittens!” they yelled. My youngest children Eli (age 9) and Ivy (age 7) had each invited a friend over after school, and the first thing they did was take them to the haystack to show them the seven barn kittens. They discovered one was missing and had fallen through a crack, all the way to the bottom of the huge haystack. Who knows how long it had been down there, but they said they could hear it crying, so they ran for help. I had a deadline I needed to meet, and I knew getting to the kitten would require unstacking dozens of 70-lb bales. I was tempted to tell them it would have to wait until tonight, but then something changed my mind.

I recently finished “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown and am following his 21-Day Challenge. Just this morning, I watched the video for day 19. The challenge was to stop and ask this question at least once today. “What is the most important thing I should be doing right now?” That made my decision pretty easy. As I ran to the barn with the kids, I heard Eli saying, “This will be just like rescuing the soccer team trapped in the cave!” While not as dramatic, this video captures their unforgettable moment as rescuers.