Life in the Slow Lane

 I'm a veteran of the fast lane.  It's always been hurry, get this done.  Hurry, I need this done today.  That plane has to fly in the morning.  Hurry, hurry, hurry.  Schedules have to be met.  You're holding up so-and-so who always seemed to have priority over what we were doing.  

It's that way in my chosen profession, but it's also that way in life these days.  Utah is terrible for this.  Hurry and get there.  Driven I-15 or I-80?  You know what I'm talking about.  I used to tell visitors to Utah that were in the Guard that if they're the first car at the green light, to make sure to wait a second or two before going into the intersection.  Once, I heard someone tell me that they found out why I said that.

We get mad when we wait.  I'm bad about wait.  I will use the self-checkout so I don't have to wait long whenever I can.  I'm a product of my life.  And now, I live in a place where life is seriously moving in slow motion.

Nothing happens in a hurry here.  When you cross the state line coming into Oregon, the speed limits drop.  On pretty much every road.  It's indicative of how life is here on the coast.  Nothing happens in a hurry.  For instance, with COVID, all of the DMV offices are closed and you have to make an appointment to do certain things that can only be done in person, like getting a driver's license.  I filled out the preliminary paperwork online last week.  My appointment is for January 25.

Some things you can't do online, like your car registration.  In late September, I mailed off he paperwork for the Tahoe I bought.  The DMV still hasn't cashed the check, let alone processed the paperwork.  Same thing with the RAV4.  I had to mail the paperwork to the credit union and have them mail the title and the rest of the paperwork I sent them to the DMV in Oregon.  That was after I had to have a VIN number inspection.  That appointment I had to schedule about a week in advance.  They haven't cashed that check either and I have absolutely NO idea where that paperwork actually is.  I do know the plates on the RAV4 expire at the end of January.

I bought a hot tub on July 14.  It had to be made.  I was told, at the time I bought it, that it would be 10-12 weeks because of CORONA.  I received a call yesterday and the tentative install date for my hot tub is January 14.  Seriously, six months to the day I purchased it.That's not indicative of life in Oregon, but it just seems to fit into a pattern of my life these days where God is teaching me the value of waiting and slowing down.

My kid would be happy.  He thinks I do too much; work too hard.  He wants me to coast down.  He doesn't understand how hard that is when you've been running your whole life from this to that.  But life is just slower here.  People stop to chat.  Clerks at the stores will help you find things.  People drive closer to the speed limit, for the most part.  It's just a little bit slower here.

That's not a bad thing all the time.  It's frustrating other times, but then in those times, I'm reminded that I'm new here and I'm the one that needs to change.  I'm thinking differently about waits.  Sometime, God does things in the wait that will work for my good after the wait is over.  It's hard when you're used to right now, but then I got reminded that to God, a days is like a thousand years and a thousand years is but a day to Him.  He kinda reminded me the other day to forget what I know about time regarding some things I'd like to have changed in my life.

I think it's just time to wait, to trust, and to learn to enjoy life in the slow lane.