"That's How Kids Are!"

It was almost 10:30. The school bus usually picked Julia up at 10:30 on Fridays, but on this particular Friday, Julia was just a wee bit slower than usual in the bath.

I called out to her to remind her that the bus would be coming soon. “Make it fast Julia…” “I can’t!” came back the reply.

I walked into the bathroom and found Julia wet from head to toe, holding the open bottle of body wash and sporting a mischievous smile on her face.

“Your school bus will be here in minutes – do you want to go to school naked?” “No” she replied, still smiling.

“Then make it fast”, I said.

“But I can’t”, she replied again.

“Have you soaped yourself yet?” I asked.

“No”. And then she smiled, yet again.

Frustrated (I was working from home, so I WAS working, you know) I stepped in and took the bottle from her hand and started to lather her up.

“What do you mean you can’t? Why are you so slow?”

“But, Dada, that’s how kids are! We’re supposed to be slow!”

Ever notice how things change as we get older? Have you noticed how fast life becomes as we climb that corporate ladder? As we struggle in this so-called “dog-eat-dog” world, trying so hard to survive, let alone live. Somewhere between that day we graduated from college and had our first thoughts of a peaceful, enjoyable retirement, we got lost in the conundrum of the so called “real-life” – and things – everything – seemed to get so much faster.

And life, for all it’s worth just passes us by – barely allowing us the opportunity to savor it to it’s fullest.

Julia isn’t really a slow kid – she just enjoys doing things with my wife and I. And why not? We have fun when we’re together – and she feels that she is loved. Many times Jeng and I have commented to each other that “Julia knows she is loved”, and her actions and demeanor show it.

She doesn’t like the word hate. She doesn’t like dark or gloomy colors. She doesn’t like it when we raise our voices – in fact she doesn’t like loud noise at all, save for the loud noise created by laughter.

So she wasn’t being slow. Her smile said it all: “Come and give me a bath, Dada”

Life has enough challenges for us. It doesn’t need our help to make it as harassing as it already is. What WE need to do is slow down, and spend some time with those we love. After all, isn’t it for their sake that we go on with this rat-race? What’s the use of winning the race, if we will only realize that we left our loved ones behind?

Julia got on the school bus on time. She did forget to brush her teeth, but all she said was “Oh well, I’m pretty anyway”.

Now THAT’S taking it slow and easy.