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When I was younger, I used to anxiously wait for events to come, and it seemed as though it took FOREVER. For example, from the time we put up the Christmas tree at our house until the actual date of December 24, it seemed as though several YEARS passed.

But as I got older, I figured something out. I KNOW why old people drive so slow. It is NOT because they cannot see over the steering wheel, or because they don’t have enough muscle tone to push down on the gas pedal. Oh no.

It is because the OLDER you get, the faster life goes, and they have figured this out. They are in NO HURRY because they don’t want to get there ahead of time. We all know where THERE is.

Today, my life is passing in warp speed. It is now mid-May. Where did January go? I have a book due, and I have to get it written, and yet it seems like time is whipping past me, and I can’t control it.

As a single mom, working a full-time job in addition to a part-time job that is closer to full-time, I have little daylight to spare, I never seem to get enough sleep, and stress is my constant companion.

Guess what? I WANT to put on the brakes. And enjoy life a bit. Or at least the good parts of life, and I count my children in those. I am proud of their accomplishments. For example, Dancing Daughter made the high school drill team this year (brutal competition, and lots of very sad girls who didn’t make it), she is still dancing at a pre-professional studio level, and in between that there is a little thing called GRADES and schoolwork. But she has maintained a decent GPA, stayed on the honor roll, and let’s face it, she’s too busy to get into trouble.

Today will be her last solo competition of the year, and I will update her status afterwards, but I am proud of how much she has improved this year.

We also got some excellent actions shots of her this year, including this one.

And Chatter Child has an artistic bent that she likes to dabble in, and recently she won first place of all the multi-media classes with this photograph.

I like it. Apparently, others did as well. As a sophomore, it’s a pretty big deal to win this award. So we are excited about that, and I want to relish it.

I want this time of my life to slow down. I want to enjoy these things, and not watch them pass me by in a blur. So if you see a Jeep Liberty in front of you, driving slowly, it’s probably not an old person (I refuse to consider myself old just yet). It’s just me, slowing down to enjoy life, and making sure it doesn’t pass me by.