Walking back from class...

Today as I was walking back from Linfield I got stuck behind someone walking very, very slowly. At first I was annoyed thinking "why is this person sooooo slow?!" Then, as I realized that she was so slow because she was wearing heals, in the snow!? I became even more annoyed. Then I started to think. Perhaps she is not walking slow because of her shoes, perhaps it is another reason. Maybe something horrible has happened to her, and she is walking slowly because she is in pain? Or maybe she has an injury that I cannot see. Or maybe she is just taking her time. BAM! That hit me like a ton of bricks! She is taking her time... hmmm. Maybe she doesn't like to hurry, perhaps she likes to look around her and take everything in. Then I started thinking... why don't I do that? Is it because I am stressed about school? Home? My family? Friends? Or for another reason? Why am I always in such a hurry? Have I forgotten how to look around me and see the beauty that is there? So really, am I in the wrong instead of 'slow girl' ahead of me? At that moment a thought struck me, have I been traveling through life too fast, and missing out on what is important? Do I stop to smell the flowers? Or look at the beauty around me, or am I too busy thinking about all that I have to do? Am I wasting my life? Do I stop to make connections between things like Dr. Sexson? Or am I too busy looking at the 'big picture'? In our society, where everything is so fast paced, are we all missing out on something? Where are the times of a long Sunday walk? Of the family dinner?Where have these days gone? Are they a figment of your youth, that you experience only once, or should they be an everyday part of daily life? Perhaps we need a change. A time of connections and 'mything' is needed. So perhaps I took this class at the perfect time in my life. Perhaps looking at the past will help me to see the present as what it truly is: a gift. Or maybe i'm reading too much into things and she was really just walking slow because of her high heals.