I know better than to watch the news…
This morning, however, I had a rare extra 20 minutes.
It felt like a little slice of heaven… pure solitude.
Kids were at school… my husband their means of transportation... and there I sat. Alone, in quiet, with a cup of coffee, still in my nightie with a moment of, “what shall I do?”
I stole a glimpse of my computer sitting across the room…. It yelled at me to pick it up and answer the 1600 e-mails and get to work.
My attempt to silence the Apple began with grabbing the remote.
Matt and Al and Savannah smiled at me and shared the headline news.
What was I thinking grabbing that remote… Plane crashes and Schizophrenics and Al Qaeda…
I should have paused.
Just like that I turned my solitude into chaos.
A choice…
In a moment…
I should have paused.
My brain got the best of me and immediately began spiraling with its own private conspiracy theories.
The Apple yelled at me across the room, “I told you, you should have picked me up…”
Shoulda coulda woulda…. I quickly turned off the tv and obliged the Apple.
The first e-mail was from a friend. It included a poem written by a young girl...
Her words inspired and moved me in so many ways. With her words in my head, I danced through my day.
Slow Dance
Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading light?
You better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask How Are You?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed?
With the next hundred chores, running through your head?
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die.
Cause you never had time to call and say, “Hi.”
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere,
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower.
Hear the music,
Before the song is over.
Talk about a reminder to pause! When I’m hurried and future fucking myself, I get ahead of myself.
These words remind me to pause, to stop and smell the roses – so to speak.
Constant reminders are necessary in ones day to day.
Right now during these holidays I need reminders in my minute to minute.
The energy in the streets puts me in a HolyDaze!
When I think of a slow dance, memories wash over me as if I am watching a movie.
I am 5 years old, dancing on my grandpa’s shoes…. 9th grade, Skynyrd, Stairway to Heaven…. First dance at my wedding…. and so on…
I can hear the music, and I immediately slow down….
