I'm In A Hurry

"I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I'm in a hurry don't know why."

Remember this 1992 hit song from Alabama? (Written by Roger Murrah and Randy VanWarmer) It has been stuck in my head all morning. I've always hated having to hurry. One of the best things about being retired is I no longer have to hurry to get up, shower, dress and off to work on time.

I don't remember what Mom told me about my due date when I was young, only that I was "born late and had been behind ever since." In later years she told me that I had been "the slowest person she had ever been around until she spent some time with one of her nieces" and commented, "I didn't think there was anyone slower than you."

Walking the mile home from our one-room country school, my older brother and younger sister would be home at least fifteen minutes ahead of me. I liked to dawdle along, day-dreaming, looking at plants and birds and snake paths in the dirt, stopping at the bridge to throw rocks into the pool and watching the resultant, ever-widening, circles.

First school and then jobs forced me to be on time! Ugh! Homework was left until the last minute. I was slightly better in the work place, after all, I was being paid to get things done. But most of my jobs weren't that demanding. And my theory was 'better to be slow and methodical and do it right the first time than to make a mistake and have to do it over'. That was especially true with bookkeeping. I might be slower entering data and getting it right, but an error could take a half day or longer to locate and correct.

These days about the only time I hurry is when I'm reading a really good book and I can't wait to get through it to discover the ending. Then I'm sad because the book is done. That could be a metaphor for my life.