Knowing When to Walk

There was just a fifteen minute window between when I could leave work and when my daughter's performance would start. I'd hop a cab and be there in five--no problem. Except ten seconds on the sidewalk told me I wouldn't get a cab, and another ten made it clear that, with the traffic I was seeing, a  cab wouldn't get me there in five, or even in the fifteen I had. There was no choice but to walk it.
 
Sometimes, the hardest thing in life is to see what is right in front of you, face it, and react accordingly. It's often much easier to see what you'd like, or wait to see what you'd like. Had I held on to the idea that I would take a cab, I would have found myself standing in front of my work building, cab-hailing hand in the air, as my daughter's show began. If I always waited for my kids, or my work, or just life in general to be exactly the way I expect, I'd do a lot of waiting, and not a lot of doing.
 
Believe me, there are days when I don't know when to walk--days when I would miss my daughter's show, or miss an opportunity awaiting me if only I had walked. It's hard to know all the time. I guess it's just important to make sure your feet--and your head--are always ready.