We’ve all said it, life goes so fast. I mean, I blinked and my kids went from this
to this
As I walked to the chicken pen one morning to fetch Titus I did something I haven’t done in a very long time – I stopped to take pictures.
I took pictures of the flowers that have started to bloom in the ditches – yellow ones and blue and purple ones and clover – I don’t know their names but I took their pictures anyway with my phone and an app (my big dslr camera sees less and less action these days.)
I took a picture of our house, and of the creek all greens and blue skies.
And in the process of slowing down to look around, to notice the little wonders of my immediate world, the whole world seemed to spin a little bit slower. Is that the secret to slowing down this crazy wonderful life of mine? Stop and look around once in a while?
I’m so used to living life at the speed of blur, full throttle, that the world around me does seem to blur as I focus on the biggest fire that needs put out – laundry, farm business, feeding the family, cheering on or running errands or cleaning up the worst of the mess. But in order for what’s blurred to come into focus I have to slow down, stop even, and notice.
I used to do this all the time, almost every day on my lunch break I’d grab my camera and just walk around the farm to see what was going on. And at first it was the obvious things – cows and pigs and chickens and children and pets. But after the obvious I’d start to look closer and deeper – weeds and hay sworls and new crops and spider webs.
I seem to remember that time as slower than this time. Maybe that’s just the way of nostalgia. I thought it was because the kids were younger and not involved in as many things. And logically that’s got to be part of it. But I wonder if it’s also that you stop noticing the things that have always been there.
5 years ago:
