Stop and Smell the Roses

Yesterday, I wrote about speeding while driving. Ever since then, I have been thinking about how fast we move through our lives.

Today, I attended a 60th birthday party for a relative. There were three generations present. A common theme of conversation amongst the the eldest generation sounded something like this, "When did I get old enough that my baby is 47 years old, and her baby is expecting a baby?"

Do you remember when you were a young child how long it took for Christmas or your birthday to get here? It seemed like forever.

As a young adult maybe you remember thinking getting through school and graduating was taking forever.

In later adulthood, when you were getting up morning after morning and spending day after day at a job, when will I be able to retire?

I remember at Christmas time, my dad would always bring up how fast time goes saying, "Just think in a little over six months it will be hot again, and we will be celebrating July 4th." Of course, on July 4th he would say, "Just think in about six months it will be cold again, and we will be celebrating Christmas." I used to get so frustrated with him when he talked about how fast time passes.

Next month, I'll celebrate my 70th birthday, and now I get what my dad was saying . I realize he was not just telling me time passes fast, what he was really saying was to "stop and smell the roses along the way".

https://youtu.be/h3a5vN4tUl4

Stop and Smell the Roses by Mac Davis

What have you done recently to stop and smell the roses?

When will you give yourself permission to smell the roses?

How will you spend your time smelling the roses?