What's the rush?

We are a nation obsessed with always moving as fast as we can and beeping at those who are not moving fast enough to get out of our way!  Anyone in front of us is a moron and anyone who passes is a maniac.  We use drive thru windows to get our coffee, donuts, burgers, pizza, ice cream, money, dry cleaning, library books, prescriptions, mail letters and even get married!  Why are we in such a hurry? We rush around all day so we can get home, sit on the couch and watch mindless reality shows about people who, for the most part, are not doing anything more exciting than we are, they’re just doing it in better clothes/cars/homes while using more colorful language.  Or we watch a crime show with beautiful investigators that can crack any case in less than 42 minutes and get the suspect to confess.

I’ve had the opportunity to take the past few months to slow down, enjoy my surroundings and get to know my neighborhood a little better.  Every afternoon when the kids get out of school I see them ride home on their bikes or walk with their friends and then there is the little boy about 9 years old at the end of the street who is usually by himself.  The school bus drops the kids off at the corner and it probably takes this boy 10 minutes to walk to his house, which is less than a block away.  Some days he reads while he walks home, weaving back and forth over the tree lawn, sidewalk and front lawns.  I’ve seen him stop to check out a bug or anthill, follow a butterfly or watch a squirrel and he always seems to be happy with whatever he is doing.  Yesterday was a special treat as I watched him carefully carry his dimensional Titanic replica fashioned out of construction paper down the street while avoiding wind gusts.  This kid seems to get it though; he seems to know that life is about exploring what’s out there, taking it all in and enjoying the moment.

This summer I pledge to take more walks just to get fresh air and look at the lake, more bike rides through the park to see the birds and flowers, and more time on the porch reading books or hanging with my friends.  I want to capture just a little more out of life and savor the summer before I’m back cursing the morons and the maniacs who don’t know how to signal.

There is balanced, imbalanced and somewhere in between you'll find Kimbalanced.