It's Trendy to be Slow

I never knew we were trend setters. I've seen a few articles published recently, and a trend-setting book entitled "In Praise of Slowness" by Carl Honore,"  expounding the virtues of slowing down.  There's a worldwide movement slowly brewing encouraging people and families to SLOW DOWN, to enjoy the moment, savor the experience and enjoy each others company. All in the attempt to enhance their quality of life. Slow life, slow love, even slow food.

Heck, we've been doing this for 10 years. When your child with cerebral palsy gets big enough to need a wheelchair, wears braces/AFOs and needs help getting changed and dressed, it's a slow process. Our son is now 13 years old and still requires all the help he needed at 3. It takes us at least 30 minutes to get us out the door to get anywhere. It's hard for us to to out rush and accept a spontaneous invitation. This much work takes planning and I'm still always 10 minutes late.

As anyone who's travelled with us knows, we are slow. Slow getting out the door, slow getting a wheelchair in our van, slow travelling across rough terrain and slower eating meals. We don't travel light. We travel with wheelchairs, strollers and trays packed into an adapted minivan with a cargo rack on the roof. We need time and space.

Perhaps I missed Mr. Honore's telephone call when he was researching his book, but I expect we -and other parents of children with special needs- will be living the slow life for a years to come.

Available from Amazon - In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore  (also available for Kindle)