The KEY thing I learned

When the plane landed in Minnesota the temps were below zero. It was a surreal difference from Florida, the very sort of extreme that I like to experience. As much as I like those sorts of changes, there is one thing I want to keep, the one thing I learned from spending time on Cedar Key and that has to do with time. You see, time slowed down while we were on the key. It was truly magical yet I know it has everything to do with how I choose to spend my day. The thing I learned is how to slow down.

Back in our normal schedules, I can dread or rather, not savor the day. I sleep as long as I can, I crowd the day with activities and wait until the last minute to start dinner. I rush from preschool drop-off to morning meetings. I can change all that by simply getting up a little earlier and oddly enough, by scheduling relaxation. I can make it an intentional part of the day rather than just collapsing into a few moments of the day that happen to be open and free. I see a subtle yet important difference between these two ways of living out the week.

While our days on Cedar Key were about following our hearts to the next view and noses to the next bowl of clams, the day was in fact scheduled for relaxation. It was a "most enjoyable time*" that brought us two closer and taught us something we can carry with us for the rest of our lives.




[*Bud, the Vietnam Vet we met in the Island Hotel said this to me numerous times. It was a curiously old way of expressing pleasure and I loved it! I loved his language and his sentiments. I really hope I get a chance to meet him again.]