Life in the Slow Lane

    When God handed out Type A personalities, he skipped me.  If we use the metaphor of speed for life, I’m no sprinter.  I’m not even a jogger.  I’m a stroller.

    Never in my life have I lived in the fast lane, especially not socially.  My idea of a good time is reading a good book, comfortably reclined.  My idea of an exciting social life is going out for coffee with friends.

    The fast lane escaped me in the work world as well.  I enjoyed my job most of the time, did my best, and left it at that.  There were no academic promotions available where I worked, anyway, so I didn’t have to worry about advancing my career.   

    I used to tell people that being a single parent had all of the responsibilities of parenting and none of the benefits of singleness.  The couples had the advantage of numbers, and the singles had the advantage of free time.  I carved out free time by neglecting household duties.  I never entered the fast track of impeccable housekeeping.  Even though I won the local Betty Crocker Scholarship as a high school senior (for writing an essay), I was no Betty Crocker at home.  I didn’t even know who Martha Stewart was for years.  I slid by on minimum housekeeping efforts, preferring sleep to two a.m. laundry and time with my kids to clean floors.  (Gosh, I should have made them clean the floors.)

  The academic year felt like the Boston Marathon at top speed.  Summers slowed down to a stroll.  (Well, the reality was an enforced sauna, me made motionless by the triple digit heat.)

    I’ve been on a perpetually cool summer vacation for two years now.  I mark my days by meals cooked and laundry done, by the stroll down the driveway to get the mail, by the writing done at my computer, by books read and music practiced.  For fun, I drive into Freeland to look through the thrift store or pick up a few books at the library.  Sometimes I take walks at the tidal flats or Meerkerk Gardens.  Big city life (in Oak Harbor) includes weekly worship at Whidbey Presbyterian and grocery shopping at Saars.

    I like living in the slow lane even though I sometimes get bored.  But then I can always count slugs.