A Sunday Stroll

As I pulled out of the driveway, I rolled ever so slowly down the street. Not something I normally do, but hey, it was Sunday. What was the rush? Besides, the slower I go, the more I see.

Just a few doors down, I saw an old couple standing outside their front door hanging a Christmas wreath and smiling at each other as they agreed on how straight it looked. Each with a coffee cup in hand. A little further down on the right, I watched a young man rake leaves into a pile so they weren’t covering his front lawn, driveway, and street. Towards the bottom of the street, on the left, I saw a woman putting kids dressed in holiday outfits,  into the SUV in her driveway. Off to take Christmas photos perhaps?

Who knows?

I could sit here and pretend that I know for certain the old couple that hung the Christmas wreath, were happy. But what if that was the first time they had smiled together in months? I could pretend that the kid raking up leaves was doing it because he enjoyed it, not because it was some form of punishment for not picking up his younger sister from Cheer practice. Just as there’s no way for certain to know that, on a Sunday afternoon, the kids jumped into their white SUV and were headed to grandma’s house for dinner, not to see their dad in jail. Obviously I don’t know.

Often times I pass through life so fast, I don’t notice things that perhaps I should. Things that might, make a difference. Would I have ever noticed that couple if I had been preoccupied with turning up the radio? Nope. Would have passed them by like they weren’t even there. I might have noticed the kid raking leaves, but more times than not, would have considered him to be “in my way” while trying to speed down the street.

I don’t know if it’s the approaching holiday season, or just the plain fact that people eventually do end up changing, but whatever it is, I accept it. I welcome it.

Time to slow down….