Slow Dance

The alarm clock goes off, late again, racing to catch the train. Get off the train join the sea of people racing for the doors of the train station. Run across the busy street, and through the glass doors before the revolving door hits me. Race to the elevator just before the door shuts, almost spill my coffee as my bag slips off my shoulder then I arrive.. 9 am. Race to finish the last bit of work I should have done the night before, before I race to the meeting I have in 10 minutes. Back to work, is it lunchtime yet?? Is this day alnost over. Finally 6 pm. Race home to make dinner, cram in some studying, and a few chores before bed. Get in bed, my mind racing through tomorrows tasks as I drift off to sleep. 6 am the alarm goes off and I repeat the above cycle.

So often I find myself racing from one thing to the next.. just wishing the day away. How has it come to be that I spend most of the week wishing it away - lost in dreams about the weekend? It feels like lately I pretty much live for Saturday. Why Saturday? Well Saturday is the best day of the week. Think about it, you wake up on Saturday and there is nothing you HAVE to do, the day is pure, its a clean slate. It can be anything you want it to to be - endless possibility lies in Saturday. I cant help but think though that while we all want to get done with the work week and onto the weekend, its sort of sad how we spend 5/7 days in a week racing our lives away from one mundane task to the next. If you think about it in terms of a year that would be 260 out of 365 days in which we wish we were somewhere else -- broken down even further that is 374,400 minutes per year spent waiting for saturday. Over a lifetime of the average working person that equates to 16,099,200 minutes spent waiting for the weekend.

I think that sometimes we get so caught up in the race of life, that we forget to make the moment count. Enjoy the little things -- and not take one day (even a day at work) for granted. Instead of racing through the commute -- lost in your own world. Stop: smile at the person next to you on your way out of the train station. Stop to smell the flowers sold by the crazy old woman on the street corner. Take 5 extra minutes and grab the coffee that you really wanted but convinced your self you didnt have time to get. All I know is that - I need to slow down - I just cant justify spending 374,400 minutes a year feeling like I'm waiting for saturday. Below is one of my favorite poems.. keep this in mind the next time you find yourself wishing for Saturday and racing through the day:

S L O W D A N C E:
Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last
Do you run through each day on the fly
When you ask "How are you?"do you hear the reply?'
When the day is done,do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last
Ever told your child,We'll do it tomorrow
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time to call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....Thrown away...
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music Before the song is over