Slow Down

I used to play deaf to the sound of time rushing by me like the wind. 
Selective hearing I inherited from my Granddad, I suppose. 

It seems as though I boarded the Red Line for another day at work and when I emerged from the tunnel 
I was older, 
cleaning an Indiana farmhouse shower the way my mother taught me, 
with an alarm clock sounding in my head saying it's 5:30 AM: time to pull CIDRs and give shots with my husband. 

Oblivious. 
I thought it was just another metro ride to work. 
Where does time go?

The minutes turn to days, 

and the days become years. 

Somewhere between learning to ride a bike and learning to complain about the price of gas, our days have come to fade away into some memory bank we only remember in snapshots. 
Slow Down. 

I have learned: 

We don't fully recall travels, 

rather the moments that comprise the trip.

And if we move too quickly, 

it's darn easy to miss the scenery. 

So why do we count down the days until Friday?
Why do we hope we can only get through one more day until vacation?
Why do folks hit the snooze button? (<- me, every day)
Do you see that glimpse of light peaking through your blinds? 
That's life. 
And it's waiting. 
Life is waiting. 

And then our feet hit the floor...

When do you think we'll stop glorifying "busy"?

Busy is dreadful. 

Slow down. Happiness is trying to catch you. 
Between the kindergarten registration you stressed over and the high school graduation you cried over: How many of those moments were you present for?
No phone. 
No camera. 
Just emotion and memory. 
That's life. 
Slow down. 

(Seriously: you're not important enough to miss the big stuff)

If we're always racing to the next moment, what happens to the one we're in?

Slow down; come home from work and not worry about sweeping up the tracks across the kitchen floor to the pitcher; he was thirsty. 

Slow down; don't use the back of the church bulletin to make your grocery list; there is a time and place.  

Slow down; don't look out the window and fret about the spots; enjoy the amazing view. 

Slow down; look in the mirror and not notice the circles; thank God for another day to do things right. 

 

Slow down. 

Enjoy it. 

Life happens fast.