“We are going faster Mom. Mom, we are going a little bit faster. We are going a little faster.”
Two years ago we drove to Colorado to visit family and stopped in Burlington, Colorado for the night. Looking for something to do that evening we came upon the beautifully restored Kit Carson County Carousel, crafted in 1905 with hand-carved and painted wooden animals.
As we rode the carousel, my youngest son repeated over and over again that “we were going a little bit faster.” It made me laugh at the time that he repeated this as we did indeed continue to go faster and faster, to the point that I was gripping the bar pretty tightly towards the end of the ride.
I now see his observation through a different lens. This is pretty much how one could view life. I am getting married later this week and as the day approaches and the hustle and bustle of preparations intensify, I can hear my son’s voice in my head saying, “We are going a little bit faster, a little bit faster Mom.”
There are those moments in life where you want to have the power to slow time down to savor the experience and not let it just fly by. This is one of those moments for me. After a year of planning I would love to push the slo-mo button on the video of my life.
As it is also the smack dab middle of summer already, most people I know want to soak up the sun and fend off all of the responsibilities that return in the fall. Summer is a time to pause and enjoy. There are more out of office replies and decisions are often pushed off until about the time your tan starts to fade.
On the other side of the coin, there are those difficult times in life we would love to move along, but they drag on like a cold dark winter and we feel like we are trudging through knee deep snow just to get by in life.
Regardless if they are good or difficult times in life, time seems to accelerate with each passing year. We always think we have more time. We can do something later. But after the last couple of years, I think everyone is realizing that the time is now.
Part of the reason I started offering life storytelling services is because the last two years have brought the reality of how fragile and unpredictable life can be to the forefront. We can’t control much in life, but we can appreciate what we do have in our lives and the people that make life worth living.
Regardless of your age or situation, you never can be sure that you can share a story later or that you will remember event details as clearly as you do at this very moment. Capturing your loved one’s memories now ensures that you can hold onto those memories. So often we think we know all there is to know about someone, but I have never yet helped share a story that did not result in a look of surprise from the reader learning something new about their loved one.
As we keep “going a little bit faster” in life I encourage you to slow down and to consider the meaning of your life story and what a gift it would be to share that story with your friends and family. Everyone has a story to tell. It is just waiting to be told.
Wishing you summer days that don’t go a little faster,
Maureen
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