Wednesday, December 2, 2020

The Art of Slowing Down

Moving slowly is not something that I can normally accomplish. I am learning, though. After being in the teaching profession for over thirty years, I was used to running, rushing, and doing everything at a very quick pace - at home and at work. I am now in my second year of retirement, and I am doing a little better about not rushing so much. I am finally being able to sit down sometimes when I eat. Well, breakfast is usually a little relaxed. Lunch is still up in the air. At that time of the day, the rushing is mostly in full force. I normally fix a sandwich and eat while moving through the house. I am not sure why, though. Daily household chores that were done in a running mode are now slowed down to a slow jog. It is hard to realize that I actually have time to do things around here without rushing. I was used to doing everything in one day, usually on Saturday morning, in between writing lesson plans. Now, I can do things a little bit every day. Even a trip to the grocery store can now be slower paced. I enjoy walking up and down each aisle looking at things. The past two weeks have been spent getting ready for Christmas. I bought a new tree at Hobby Lobby and got it put up. Then this weekend, all of my decorations were brought down from the attic. It has taken all week to get the things out and put up around the living room. I am not finished, yet, but everything is out and ready to be put somewhere. Getting started before Thanksgiving is not something that I have ever done before. I am moving slowly at this activity. There were years when I only had one day to get it all done! That would wear me out! Luckily, I cleaned out all of my tote boxes last year and threw away all of the old broken pieces and things that were not really in good condition. So, I didn't have to go through all of that stuff this year. That saved a lot of time. I still try to ride my bike every day, weather permitting. My cousin and I go pretty far sometimes. We rode over 7 miles the other day. It was really cold and windy that day, but we made it! We have found some pecan trees on our ride, so we pick up nice pecans sometimes. We see lemon trees and orange trees some places, too. We also found a grapefruit tree on our ride. This yard also has a big pecan tree. One day, the lady of that house told us that we could get as many grapefruit and pecans as we wanted. She was raking up a lot of pecans that day. The guy across the street from her has a pecan tree, too, and he told us that we could also get pecans from his tree. Pecans are very expensive in the stores, so it is nice to be able to get some fresh ones on our ride. I have two pecan trees at my house, too. This year is the first year that they are big enough and ripe enough to eat! YES! Once I get things more organized around this house, I will be able to slow down even more. After so many years of teaching, I have accumulated tons of books and supplies. The house is pretty much overrun with those items. Once I have the time to get through all of those things and get them out of here, then things will be easier to organize. I do not want to throw away all of those things. Maybe I can find some organization that might be able to use them. A lot of money has been spent over the years to purchase my teaching supplies. I just do not want to throw it all away. Speaking of moving slowly, this post has been slow in getting written. I started it a few weeks ago. Each time that I start writing, I feel as though I get off of the topic. I probably did that today, too, but I am going to try to finish writing it. The weather today is supposed to be rather cold - well cold for Savannah! We do not have snow or anything like that, but the temperature is supposed to be in the 30's. Hopefully, I will get out a bit today and get a few things that I need. Do you ever go to the store and buy all sorts of things, get home, and realize that you forgot the one or two things that you actually went to buy? HA! I do that a lot! So, I will go out today and try to remember the one thing at Publix that I needed for banana pudding, and then something else at another store. So, slowing down is nice. It is so nice that I actually make more than one trip to get things that I need! HA! Is that the art of slowing down, or is that the reality of getting older and being forgetful?? Whichever it is, I can handle actually having the time to return to places to get what I need. Take it easy today, and have a great day!!