When did I first ask myself, why am I so slow? Well, my moving slowly isn’t the fault of COVID-19. I am slow because I am OLD . . . but cute.
I don’t remember when I realized how I’ve slowed down, but it isn’t just because I am not venturing forth.
You walk like an old lady, I tell myself.
You are an old lady, I answer . . .
Sometimes when I say my age aloud . . . I scare myself. ( Sister Monica Joan and what she teaches me.)
Let’s move on.
So, first thing the other morning I asked Doug if he knew why it now takes me almost a half hour to get myself dressed every morning.
If he knew, he was kind enough not to say.
Once upon a time, it took me maybe five minutes to pull myself together and get out the front door – and not just the bedroom door, for heaven’s sake! Plus, I didn’t need to look in a mirror every five seconds to see if I got things right. I do now!
Our Routine
We have been careful in the past four months to dress and make our bed before starting the day. Our routine through COVID-19 is the same as it was before all our lives changed. Except, we’ve been a bit more disciplined about praying together.
I liked the initial prayer schedule our denomination offered. For that first month, praying for other people – many who were placing their lives at risk for us – it kept me steady.
It still does, especially now.
Remembering the world is a bit bigger than our little patch, and a wee bit more complicated, is hard some days . . . I can be more self-absorbed than a three year old! So
It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others. — John Andrew Holmes
Some of us, though, are still having a hard time staying right sized in these tumultuous days; some of us are making life harder on others than we should be because we don’t like what the other believes, or how they live. And we won’t stop and count the cost of what we say!
It has been a thoroughly discouraging experience. We are permitting ourselves an unwise indulgence: being quick to give others a piece of our minds.
I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool. Katherine Whitehorn*
Right?
One saving grace of being slow is I finally understand:
I was a slow learner
Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation.– Henry Ward Beecher