#SOL16 Day 3

Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going to fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why. ~ Eddie Cantor

Tailgaters are missing out on life!  By tailgaters I don’t mean the fun-loving, partying people at sporting events and concerts.  Those people are living!  No, I mean the people who drive so closely behind you that you can almost make out the coffee stain on their shirt in your rear-view mirror.  Why are they in such a hurry?  Don’t they know what they are missing?

This morning on my way to work, I had a car on my tail.  At first I was really annoyed.  Didn’t they see the speed limit sign – 25 mph – 15 around the curve? I decided that I was not speeding up for anyone.  You see, I was taking the “short cut” to work.  It is a short length of winding road that gives me about a minute’s peacefulness each morning. The beauty of the surroundings coupled with the classical music station produce a calmness within me that I try to carry throughout my day.

I began to feel sorry for the speeding demon behind me.  Just look at what she was missing.  Did she see the birds playing chase or the mist rising up from the field?  Did she know that a stream gently winds it way under the road and travels miles from here?  How could she not see the cresent moon peaking out from behind the shifting clouds? Did she notice the broken branches on the trees – some completely off – others precarioulsy hanging down? Did she know that a CSA farm was nestled behind those trees?  It is so well hidden that you may just miss the stone driveway. No, she probably did not see any of those things because she was too busy looking at my braking tail lights and ranting about how “slow” I was driving.

So to my tailgating “friend” I send a wish for you.  My wish is that you slow down and take the opportunity to look closer at what the “short cut” has to offer or else take the long way around and stop ruining my morning minute.