The Last to Leave

I wrote before about Mom's philosophy, "Early = On Time."

It didn't extend to leaving places early. Especially church.
We were almost always early, like I wrote previously. Well, she knew everyone (or so it seemed). And everyone knew her. So she would talk to them. And they would talk to her.

In the process of all this talking people would meander (slooooowly) toward the exits. Meanwhile us kids (or maybe just me) would be shifting from foot to foot, getting more impatient by the minute, waiting and waiting and WAITING for her to be done.

I would think to myself, "If I ever have children I'm NOT gonna do this to them!"

Riiiiiiiight. Ask my almost-9-year-old how often we leave immediately after the church service, and she'd probably say, "Never!"

Mirror, mirror, on the wall - I've become my mother after all!
(Don't worry; this is a good thing if true. Actually, a great thing.)

On Time = Early

As far back as I remember, Mom's idea of arriving on time meant that we were 15 minutes early almost everywhere we went. 
I specifically remember lots of times during Sunday School especially that we kids arrived before the teacher did. Talk about awkward!

On the other hand, it's been a valuable lesson throughout my life about allowing more than enough time to get to a destination, building in time for unscheduled/unexpected/unavoidable delays.

Thanks, Mom!